Second Chance
by Soccerisawesome19
Summary: After the war, life at Hogwarts continues. Hermione and Draco are made Head Girl and Head Boy. What else could happen but a romance? With this new and strange romance, what will be the dangers, and excitements? DM HG, Please read and review :)
1. Chapter 1

The 7th year, from the beginning

And she was finally back at Hogwarts. So much had happened. So many people had died in the War, including You-Know-Who. No. He was dead now. There was nothing to fear about saying his name. Voldemort. Voldemort had died thanks to Harry. Many of the Death Eaters had died as well, such as Bellatrix. Bellatrix had tortured her and she could still remember herself crying out in pain when Bellatrix crucioed her. And that was all finally over.

Hermione was in the Great Hall, waiting for Professor McGonagall to give her speech. Professor McGonagall walked up to the podium and began to speak. "This is what a great wizard said, and I agree with it. 'There is a time for speeches, and now is not one of them.' Dig in everyone" Hermione's thoughts travelled to her late Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, who had been killed by Professor Snape. Suddenly a face popped up in front of her, interrupting her from her thoughts.

"Hey, let's eat!" Harry said.

"Don't just sit there and stare off into nowhere, when there's all this brilliant food right here in front of us!" Ron said.

"Boys…" she mumbled to herself.

She started eating, and was delighted to the familiar taste of Hogwart's food.

"Mmm… I almost forgot how good the food here was…" She said.

"Don't you remember, house elves made this. What happened to S.P.E.W.?" Ron said.

"That was…. I mean… if house elves want to make food for Hogwarts, than they should be able to. That's why I think freedom is!" she said at last.

"And that's what we've been wanting to hear for a long time Hermione." Harry said, chuckling.

"Hey, I heard you got Head Girl! Congrats!" Neville called out to her.

"Yeah I did… thanks." Hermione mumbled back, looking down at her feet, embarrassed.

"You don't sound so excited…" Ron said.

"Well, the Head Boy is Malfoy, and who'd want to do it with him?" she said.

"Good point. But it can't be that bad can it?" Harry said.

"I'll live, I suppose." Hermione said.

After they had finished eating, Professor McGonagall passed out their time tables.

Hermione scanned her list:

Muggle Studies (with Hufflepuff) Professor Smith

Potions (with Slytherin) Professor Slughorn

Defense against the Dark Arts (with Slytherin) Professor Withes

Transfiguration (with Ravenclaw) Professor McGonagall

Charms (with Hufflepuff) Professor Flitwick

History of Magic (with Ravenclaw) Professor Binns

Astronomy (with Hufflepuff) Professor Sinistra

Arithmancy (with Ravenclaw) Professor Tofty

Herbology (with Slytherin) Professor Sprout

"Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy, I need to see you now!" Professor McGonagall called out.

"Good luck!" a chorus of people said to Hermione.

"Thanks…" she mumbled as she got out of her seat.

"The Ministry of Magic wants us to have a house-unity project. Since the two of you are the Head Boy and Girl, we expect ideas from you for the two of you to be role models." Professor McGonagall said primly.

"Kingsley said that? We have to be role models? We have to work together?" Hermione shrieked shrilly.

"Why do you think we're Head Boy and Girl, Granger?" Malfoy drawled.

"Yes, you have to work together. Now the two of you are dismissed." Professor McGonagall said.

"So… what do you think we should do?" Hermione said cheerfully.

"I don't know… you're the bookworm, aren't you supposed to figure that out?" Malfoy said dully.

"I will NOT do everything for you. I am NOT your servant Malfoy. You are Head Boy, and I demand you to do SOMETHING!" she shouted.

"Whatever. How about a Quidditch battle with teams that are all 4 houses?"

"Hey… that's actually a decent idea."

"Just because you think I'm an idiot, doesn't mean I'm an idiot."

"I don't think you're an idiot…"

"Than you think I'm smart?"

"No…"

"Than you think I'm an idiot?"

"NO!"  
"Than you think I'm smart?"

"UGH! Forget it. Anyway, how about a dance, that you _have _to have a different house as your partner as?"

"No… than everyone will hate it because of that!"

"That's only you Slytherins, and maybe not all of you…"

"Are you referring to me by a chance in that, Granger?"

"Did I say that I was?"

"No…"

"So that means I wasn't."

"You could have just been referring to me but a little indirectly."

"You know what? Let's just talk about this another time… when you're not acting so pig headed."

"So you think I'm pig headed?"

"YES! Now good bye!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: BTW, if the future chapters have A/N's in the middle of them, they are most likely because I put a lot of chapters together. Anyways, enjoy! :)**

**Talking about Malfoy**

At Potions class, they were talking about Malfoy.

"So, how did the meeting with Professor McGonagall go? Did Malfoy bother you? If he did than I'll…." Ron said.

"Um… not really… He was just acting as pig headed as usual." Hermione replied.

"Oh really..." Ron said.

Hermione could tell that he wanted an excuse to hurt Draco. Draco wasn't that bad really… He was just unlucky to have been born as a Malfoy.

"Who knows, Ron? He might have changed from the War. It's not exactly his fault that he was born as a Malfoy." Hermione said.

"That Malfoy? Changing? Somehow, Hermione, I don't exactly think so." Ron said.

"Yeah same… I kind of doubt it… But at the same time, he _was_ forced to try and kill Professor Dumbledore." Harry said.

"No way… I don't think that Malfoy will ever change for the good." Ron said.

"Just think about being nicer to him, okay guys?" Hermione pleaded.

"Sure, if you say so." Harry said.

"Yeah, whatever." Ron said.

"Anyway, we're going to have to do this house-unity thingy, and we were thinking of ideas, and Malfoy had this really good idea! It was Quidditch, but not only with houses. We would organize teams, that had all 4 houses in each team! Isn't that brilliant?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yeah… But I could have come up with that too…" Ron said.

Hermione snorted… _Looks like Ron is up to the same, jealous, defensive type. HE'S JEALOUS for bloody sake! Of Malfoy! _**(A/N: Don't know if people say bloody sake, but I gave it a try… Hope you're enjoying it! )**

"Sure Ron…" Harry said, giving him a nudge and winking at me.

Hermione rolled her eyes. Harry could be so immature sometimes. Hermione continued writing her essay about Felix Felicis, or in other words, Liquid Luck. She knew this subject very well, because they had already done this subject.

All of their professors were trying hard to be like before, but of course they were quite flustered from the War. So, sometimes the teachers gave them easy work like this.

"Um… Hermione. Can you help us?" Harry and Ron said after a bit of whispering.

"How can you not know this? We learned about it way before! You guys are such… dimwits… UGH! Whatever, you can look at mine and get the basic concept!" She said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Thanks 'Mione! How would we live without you?" Ron said.

"Yeah, how would you?" Hermione mumbled, handing over her essay.

**A/N: Did you like it? Please review! :)**

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**A/N: Hope you enjoy! :) Please review!**

**Some Girl Time**

Hermione was eating her food in the Great Hall peacefully, when she was suddenly interrupted by an exasperated sigh.

"UGH! Why do we have homework already? We just started school for bloody sake! I have so much homework! I'm doomed!" Ron said.

"You're totally the center of the world Ron. The whole world is going to end, you have have homework on the 1st day back of school! NO!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"What's going to happen now? I mean, we didn't just go through a war that killed many of our friends… And of course, homework is way harder than that!" Hermione continued.

There was silence. Ron just gaped at Hermione.

"WHAT? Why are you staring at me like that?" Hermione said.

"It's just that… Hermione you… um… you never speak like that…" Ron said.

"Oh, so now it's illegal to talk sarcastically. I'm surprised you two even realized that I was speaking sarcastically. I'm sorry, what's the bill I have to pay?" Hermione asked.

"Um... nothing really." Ron said.

"Gosh Ron. I was being sarcastic." Hermione said.

"Why am I even your friend? All you do is complain all day long, and you don't even know when I'm being sarcastic." Hermione said.

Harry and Ginny walked towards their table laughing. They stopped immediately when they saw the expression of Hermione and Ron's faces.

"What's wrong guys?" Harry asked.

"The stupid red-head, that's what." She mumbled to herself.

"I'm going to go sit with Luna, if you guys are okay with that." Hermione said, getting up from the table.

Ginny and Harry shared questioning looks.

"OK, whatever. It's a free country." Harry said.

Hermione walked away from the Griffindor table, and started walking towards the Ravenclaw table, leaving the 3 of them staring off towards her.

"I'm going to go with her. It's a girl thing." She heard Ginny say to Ron and Harry as Ginny walked towards her.

"So… how's it going Luna?" Hermione asked Luna, sitting down in front of her.

"Oh, it's going okay. It's still a bit of a shock from the War, if you know what I'm talking about. But homework is not even that hard compared to the War." Luna said, as if knowing what had just happened.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean! And some stupid boys have to go on, ranting about how much homework they have!" Hermione said as Ginny came to the Ravenclaw table, sitting next to Hermione.

"Ron's just a stupid boy. Don't mind him. I think he's just trying to get used to being in school again, complaining as much as usual." Ginny said.

"I'm not sure if even want to date him now… I mean if I can't do better than him, I'm pathetic! No offence, of course Ginny." Hermione added hastily.

"You're not pathetic, Hermione! You're really pretty actually!" Luna said, surprising them.

"Erm… Thanks Luna… I'm just so confused on how I should feel about this!" Hermione said.

"Yes, I know… Do you want me to mention this to Ron for you?" Ginny asked.

"NO! I'll… find a way to tell him later." Hermione said.

"Tell him before you start dating someone. He's going to explode if he finds out that you're cheating on him." Ginny advised.

"Who's going to date me? A miserable, ugly, mean, bossy, know-it-all girl?" Hermione mumbled.

"No… You're pretty-"

"Nice-"

"Smart-"

"Awesome-"

"Strategic-"

"Give good advice-"

"Has a great personality-"

"Organized-"

"And everyone likes you. Even that darn Malfoy!" Ginny ended at last.

"M-malfoy doesn't like m-m-me, w-what are y-you talking ab-bout?" Hermione asked, confused.

"You're blind girl! He's been flirting with you since you guys became Head Boy and Head Girl. Don't think I didn't see you two arguing about him being pig-headed or not. That was pretty cute!" Ginny asked.

"Whoa… They were arguing about him being pig-headed? That's cute!" Luna said.

Ginny and Hermione looked at her, surprised.

"I can be a girl too you know!" Luna said, defensively.

"You've changed Luna…" Ginny said.

"YEAH… you've got that right!" Hermione said, grinning at Ginny.

"See Hermione! You're smiling now! You know how gorgeous that smile is, girl? You should smile more often!" Ginny said.

"Thanks Ginny!" Hermione said, with a way better mood than before.

Hanging out with just girls could make her mood so much better sometimes… Unlike _a certain _stupid boy she knew…

**A/N: Hoped you liked it! Please review, follow and favourite it! (If that makes sense) Sorry it's kind of short...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is the next chapter! Enjoy! Thanks for all of your support!**

**Defence Against the Dark Arts class**

"Now, I will let you choose your partner, but, it will have to be from the other House. This is to help with house-unity. I expect you, Ms. Granger and you, Mr. Malfoy, to be a good role models for this." Professor Withes said.

Groans came from both houses. Everyone got up and looked around for partners.

"You've got to be kidding me." Hermione said.

Ginny grinned at her and gave her a little pat.

"Good luck!" She whispered.

"Looks like we're together, Granger." Malfoy said.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it's not like I could choose, okay? Stop sneering at me!" Hermione said.

"OK… Let's just start hexing each other." Draco said.

"This is going to be fun…" Hermione mumbled to herself.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!"

"Accio Malfoy's wand!"

"Protego!"

"Tarantallegra!"

"Protego!"

"Hey Malfoy… on the defensive side today huh?" Hermione said, as she sent a wave of attacks.

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

"Reducto!"

"Protego!"

"Impedimenta!"

"Protego!"

"Silencio!"

"Mmph!"

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione cried out once more and Malfoy's wand flew into her hand.

She had a strange feeling that Malfoy purposely went defensive on her… She was starting to feel bad for actually enjoying attacking him.

"Here's your wand Malfoy." Hermione said quietly, giving his wand back.

"Hey… that was harder than I thought! You're better than I thought, Granger." Malfoy said, giving his famous Malfoy smirk.

Hermione looked, around to see how the others were faring.

Harry had ended up with Blaise Zabini, and they were still in combat, both of them doing non-verbal attacks.

Ron was up against Millicent Bulstrode, and he was getting strangled by her. For some strange reason, Hermione didn't exactly feel like going to help him.

Ginny was with Goyle, and it looked like she was winning, cursing him each time she threw a hex at him. Hermione had to smile at the sight of the huge boy getting easily beaten by a girl younger than him. She _did_ after all, skip a year in Defence Against the Dark Arts

Everyone was faring well, other than Ron, who Hermione didn't really care about at the moment.

"Expelliarmus!" Malfoy said and suddenly Hermione's wand flew out of her hand and into his.

"Hey! What was that for?" Hermione asked angrily, walking towards him to get her wand back.

"Who said the match was finished? It wasn't my fault that you gave me back my wand." Draco said as Hermione held her hand out for her wand.

"Nope. You're not getting it back unless you say please." Draco said.

"Fine. Please." Hermione said.

"Here you go. You're welcome. You see, everything is so much easier when you say please." Draco said, giving Hermione her wand back.

"Are you sick or something?" Hermione said putting her palm on his forehead.

"It doesn't seem like it… No fever or anything. You should go see Madame Pomfrey." Hermione murmured.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm not sick. I don't need to see Madame Pomfrey." Draco said, confused.

"It's not like you to be teaching me how to be polite… That's all." Hermione said.

"Maybe I changed." Draco said with a huff.

Suddenly Ron came out of nowhere and pushed Draco over.

"What's your problem, Ron? What did you do that for?" Hermione yelled at him, helping Draco up.

"You bastard! What did you do to Hermione?" Ron roared at Draco, his face getting red.

"What are you talking about Ron? I'm perfectly fine. Stop bothering us!" Hermione yelled at him.

Everyone in the room had their eyes on them.

"I didn't do anything to her. She just thought that I was sick, so she checked to see if I had a fever." Draco said smugly, liking the expression on Ron's face.

"You want to fight?" Ron asked angrily.

"Stop it. Neither of you are going to fight. I know its Defence Against the Dark Arts, but at this rate, you both will use a Dark Art, looking at your expressions." Hermione said, standing between both of them.

"Get out of the way!" Ron said, pushing her to the side.

Draco rushed to Hermione, and caught her before she could fall.

"What's your problem? You came here because of Hermione, and now you end up hurting her? Is that what you wanted to do?" Draco asked angrily at Ron.

"Let go of her, you filthy Slytherin!" Ron said.

"I can do what I want, be with who I want, Ron. You can't control me." Hermione said.

"Thanks Draco." Hermione said and went off to Ginny.

"Class dismissed." Professor Withes said.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please keep on reviewing! :)**

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**Dinner in the Great Hall**

Hermione ate her food in the Great Hall, sitting with Ginny again. She couldn't believe that Ron was being such a jerk. He had hurt Draco, and herself as well. What was his problem?

"Hey Hermione… Are you sure you're okay? Ginny told me what happened." Luna said, coming to sit at the Griffindor table.

"Yeah… I guess I'm okay. But I don't know why he's acting like such a big jerk? What's his problem?" Hermione asked.

"It's because he's jealous of you and Draco, Hermione." Ginny said simply.

"Jealous? That could explain it. But what's the big deal? It's not like we're actually together… We're just hanging out with each other more because we're Head Girl and Boy." Hermione said.

"That's the point. Because he wants to spend more time with you, and then he sees a Slytherin who used to call you a mudblood with you, and then he gets angry." Luna explained.

"You're good with this stuff, Luna." Ginny said, chuckling a little.

"So anyway, how's things with you and Harry, Ginny?" she asked Ginny, changing the subject.

"It's pretty good. Harry's so sweet you know. And I've wanted to go out with him for like… eternity. And it's finally happening. We're so happy together." Ginny said romantically.

"I'm happy for you, Ginny." Hermione said.

"And how's you and Blaise, Luna?" Ginny asked to Luna.

"Blaise is so much nicer than he was before. He's hot, nice, and smart. Who could want a better guy than that?" Luna said, grinning.

"I wish my love life was as good as that." Hermione said, sighing.

"Hermione, you're gorgeous. You just need to give some guys a try. Try going out with other guys. Just make sure, if you like them that Ron won't beat them up." Ginny said, grinning at the last part.

They all laughed.

Ron and Harry walked towards them.

"I'm… sorry, Hermione." Ron said to her.

"Well you should have thought of that before you came running up to shove Draco, or me." Hermione said.

"When did you call Malfoy, by his first name?" Ron asked all of a sudden.

"Can you please forgive him, 'Mione?" Harry asked, breaking in.

"Well… Um… I'll think about it." Hermione said at last.

"Until then, you should leave her alone." Ginny said to Ron, putting an arm around Hermione defensively.

"Don't even go near her, talk about her, or talk to her. Nothing." Luna said.

"Thanks guys. Yeah, that would be nice." Hermione said.

"OK…" Ron said, his face looking a little disappointed.

"Harry, you can stay if you want… But knowing you, you'll go with Ron because you don't want him to be lonely." Ginny said.

"Well… erm… yeah. We'll be off then." Harry said awkwardly, pulling Ron to another part of the Griffindor's table.

"Harry must have convinced Ron to apologize to you…" Luna said.

"Yeah… That's how it looks like anyway." Hermione said.

"Ron doesn't deserve you, Hermione. You should definitely go for someone better. Even Malfoy is better than him." Ginny said.

"Who's talking about me being better than the Weasel?" A voice came.

Hermione spun around, to see Malfoy grinning at her.

"Um… nobody. Why are you here anyway, Malfoy? I've never seen you get this close to the Gryffindor's table." Hermione said.

"Yeah… That's true. Get a camera, someone!" Ginny joked.

"Well, McGonagall said she wanted to see us, Granger." Malfoy said, smirking.

"Did she say why?" Hermione asked, wondering.

"No. Let's go." Malfoy said, pulling her arm upwards, and dragging her along with him.

"They look good together." Hermione heard Luna saying.

**A/N: Hope you liked... Reviews are extremely welcomed! :) 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hope you like! (I thought this chapter was so unbelievably cute! :) )**

**With Malfoy**

"So… where did Professor McGonagall say that we had to meet her?" Hermione said, trying to break the silence, although she knew that it would be in McGonagall's office.

"She didn't actually say that we had to meet her. You just looked like you could do with a bit of Malfoy charm." Malfoy drawled, smirking.

"What? Are you kidding me? I didn't even get to finish dinner!" Hermione complained.

"Don't worry. You won't even think of that later." Malfoy said, grinning.

"What? Well… okay. Fine. I guess you are right. Ron's just being such an idiot!" Hermione said.

"Well, what can you expect from the Weasel?" Malfoy said.

Hermione giggled. Malfoy had a good influence on her. Malfoy led Hermione with her arm in his hand to the seventh floor.

"Wait… are we going to the Room of Requirement?" She asked.

"How did you guess?" Malfoy said sarcastically.

Malfoy walked past the special part of wall 3 times and all of a sudden, a door appeared.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Malfoy said, rather cheerfully.

Malfoy opened the door and dragged Hermione through it.

Hermione went through the door to find a beautiful garden, with a bench. The sun was shining bright, and she could feel its heat.

"Wow. This place is amazing!" Hermione said gaping.

"I know it is!" Malfoy said smirking.

Malfoy dragged Hermione to the bench and they sat together. Slowly, he entwined his fingers in his.

Hermione blushed, but she loved the feeling of her hand in his.

"Thank you so much for bringing me here, Malfoy- Draco. I really appreciate it. I never knew that the Room of Requirement could change into a place like this!" Hermione said appreciatively.

"No problem. Anytime. So, you want to talk to me about that nitwit Ron?" Draco asked.

It was like Draco could read her mind. She just needed to talk about her mixed feelings of Ron to someone. To just, pore out.

"Yes. I don't understand why he's acting like such an idiot! He complains so much about things that… are not even complainable compared to the War. And he was so rude to you in DADA class. I don't understand him at all! I mean… It's just so messed up!" Hermione said, exasperated.

"The weasel is naturally an idiot. I can't believe you just now had bad grammar, when you said 'complainable', which is not a word. The reason he was being rude to me was because he's jealous, and he's messed up, so no one can understand him." Draco said, answering everything.

Hermione laughed. "Thanks, Draco." Hermione said.

"You should laugh more. You're prettier that way." Draco said, getting up from the bench.

Hermione blushed. **(A/N: I would blush too if Draco said that to me... Review if you would too! :) 3)**

"Well, I have homework to finish, so I'll be off now. See you tomorrow." Draco said, and left from the garden.

"Wow… he's nicer than I thought…" Hermione mumbled to herself.

Sometimes, life was just plain complicated. Hermione would never be able to solve the mysteries of life, and men as well.

**A/N: Did you see that she called him Malfoy before, and then Draco? Isn't that awesome? (It's a start of a relationship) Anyway, hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, and please review!**

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**A/N: Hope you enjoy! Reviews, PM's, favourites, follows would be all welcomed!**

**To bed with gossiping**

Under special circumstances, Hermione and Ginny were allowed to share a dorm. Hermione was so glad that Ginny was there, because Lavendar and the others were just pure terror.

"So… what happened with Professor McGonagall?" Ginny asked mischievously.

"It was good." Hermione said promptly, knowing that Ginny was behind what had just happened.

"Are you sure? How about Draco? Did you guys kiss? How was the garde-" Ginny said, then realizing what she had just said.

"I know what you did Ginny, it's all right. You plotted something with me and Draco, because you thought that I had a lot of weight on my back, which I do, thank you very much, and so you planned something with Draco, because you thought he had a good influence on me, which I think so too, and we didn't kiss. Just kind of held hands." Hermione said.

"Really? How did that happen? Come on, Hermione, tell me, tell me, tell me, please!" Ginny said, sounding like a toddler.

Hermione giggled.

"Well you see, there was a bench in the garden, so he pulled me to it and then he entwined his fingers in mine. He is so much more romantic than Ron. Um… I mean… Well yeah, he is. Not that I like him of course… Not that I don't like him. I mean… UGH!" Hermione said, exasperated because of her feelings.

"Well, obviously you're attracted to Draco. He's nice, funny and, hot." Ginny said, laughing.

"Ginny!" Hermione said at the last word.

"What? You have to admit it? Anyway, he's better in all of the qualities than Ron. Ron is such a loser." Ginny said.

"…Yeah… I guess. When I'm with him, I get into a better mood. Plus, I'm sure he's kinder, and he's really funny. And yes… he's good looking. And Ron… he's mean sometimes… He's too slow in our relationship, he won't even ask me out… He doesn't make me laugh that much… he's kind of… really ugly. But then again… I haven't been hanging around him for a long time now." Hermione said.

"You admitted that Draco's hot! YAY! And you're totally right about Ron… But Ron's still the same from before. I think you should tell Ron that you want to break up." Ginny said.

"But we're not even really in a relationship…" Hermione said.

"Good point…" Ginny said.

It was silent for a bit, both in deep thought.

Hermione broke the silence. "But still. I'm just going to tell him that it's over before he hurts Draco even more…"

"You and Draco's relationship so romantic! It's kind of a forbidden love. Aw… that's so cute." Ginny said.

"We're not even officially couple yet! We only held hands once so far!" Hermione protested.

"Trust me, you will be together soon." Ginny said.

"OK then, Gin…" Hermione said at last.

"Good night, Hermione!" Ginny said.

"Good night, Ginny!" Hermione said.

And there was a short silence, for they were both trying to sleep.

And then suddenly, Ginny broke the silence. "I can't stop thinking on how cute your relationship is- will be. I can't wait until you guys get together!"

"We're not officially on yet Ginny. And what happened to Good night?" Hermione joked.

"I don't know… I just can't help but think of how to dress you when you guys go out! You'll look gorgeous anyway…" Ginny said.

"Thanks Ginny… when you and Harry go out, I'll dress you! _You'll_ look gorgeous anyway, too!" Hermione said.

"Thanks!" Ginny said.

"No problem. Now let's sleep!" Hermione said.

"'Kay! Good night!" Ginny said.

**A/N: Hope you guys liked! REVIEWS WOULD BE AWESOME!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Like I said before, sorry for doing that one "chapter" as an A/N. Anyway, hope you like my new chapter! J Thanks for all of your reviews! It really helps me keep on writing!**

**Draco's POV**

As Draco walked into his Slytherin dorm, Blaise practically pounced on him.

"How was it? Did she like it? Did you kiss her? Do you think she likes you? You like her don't you?" Blaise said all at once.

"Well… it was really nice… I get the impression that she liked it, she was really wowed. I didn't kiss her, but I think she likes me, because who could stand such a sexy body? And I like her. A lot" Draco said, answering all of his questions.

"First of all, I'm happy you finally found someone that you like! Second of all, your body ain't sexy. Although mine is, even that gorgeous Luna Lovegood fell for me." Blaise said dreamily.

"Wow, you really fell for her, didn't you? I have to admit, she used to be an airhead, but she's getting better. I've never really noticed it before, but she is pretty." Draco admitted.

"You know, her hair colour is almost exactly the same as yours! Are you sure that you're not related? When I marry her, then we could be related too!" Blaise said.

"You're thinking of marriage already? And I'm sure that we're not related." Draco said, laughing.

"Aren't you thinking of marriage? I mean, I think Granger has a good influence on you. You're happier." Blaise said.

"Well maybe… I don't know… I hope that we'll marry… But we're only 18, Blaise!" Draco said to him.

"Yeah… I guess I am thinking a bit too early…" Blaise said sheepishly.

"What did I say?" Draco asked.

"Anyway, let's talk about you and Hermione." Blaise said, quickly changing the subject.

"Nobody can resist me. They call me The Sex God for a reason. Cuz I'm so sexy!" Draco joked.

"Um… Draco? I don't think that' why they call you The Sex God…" Blaise said.

"You don't have to be so honest all the time Blaise. Sometimes it's good to white lie!" Draco said, meaningfully.

"It can hurt my feelings…" Draco said with mock hurt.

"But then… don't you have to be nicer to me than?" Blaise said, mock offended.

"Well… I'll think about it. If you start being nicer to me!" Draco said in a baby voice.

Then they both started laughing. They didn't use to talk to each other like this much, but they had grown closer to each other when both of their father's had been sent to Azkaban. They knew what each other were going through. **(A/N: I'm not sure if Blaise's father actually had any Death Eater activity, but just need something for this moment.)**

"To tell you the truth… I do think Hermione's a good influence for me… I don't know what she sees in me though… I'm just a rotten Slytherin, former Death Eater…" Draco said.

"Other than your pure sexiness?" Blaise asked, with an innocent look.

Draco was confused for a second. And then it dawned onto him what he had said before.

"Yes, other than my pure sexiness. Hermione's really pretty… and she's not just a bookworm… She has other good qualities too." Draco said.

"It sounds like you can go on and on about her… You must really like her, don't you…" Blaise said.

"I think… I think I'm in love with her… and she's… I used to think that she was just a filthy mudblood…. But… now that dad's not here to pressure me… Everything's different." Draco said.

"Exactly… I would never have thought that… my dad would never have let me date a Lovegood. But here I am… I totally know how you feel, Draco. Everything has changed. A lot." Blaise said.

"Thanks for understanding, bro." Draco said.

"No prob. We're here for each other, after all." Blaise said.

"Thanks. Now good night." Draco said softly.

"Good night." Blaise replied.

Draco was so thankful about having such a great friend. He would never forget Blaise; for understanding, everything that Draco was going through, and being able to talk to him about him.

Draco continued thinking about how thankful he was... and then he drifted off into sleep.

**A/N: I personally loved this chapter… It shows bromance… their bonding. Hope you all loved it. Review if you thought so!**

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**A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Another day, another fresh start, full of trouble**

Hermione woke up and saw red. She freaked out and jumped up and smacked her forehead on Ginny's nose.

"Ow… I was just trying to see your reaction to that…" Ginny started, rubbing her nose

"And you did." Hermione said, laughing while rubbing her forehead.

"Usually you're the one who wakes up the earliest." Ginny said, getting off Hermione's bed in her teddy bear pyjamas.

"Well we did talk for quite a long time, Ginny… It's not exactly my fault." Hermione said, rubbing her eyes.

"Let's get ready to go eat!" Ginny said, pulling Hermione up.

Hermione laughed as she got ready. She found her eyes being drawn to the mirror quite often… Was she trying to look good for Draco? No way…

As Hermione and Ginny walked into the Great Hall in their Griffindor robes, someone tapped Hermione on the shoulder.

Hermione spun around, to see Draco, smiling at her.

"Hey, how was your sleep?" Draco asked, shooting her his winning smile.

"Good… What's up with that really weird smile of yours?" Hermione asked.

Draco stopped smiling immediately and laughed. "That was supposed to be my charming smile." He admitted, walking inside the Great Hall.

Hermione laughed as well. "Well, it sure did charm me. Charmed me into thinking you were crazy, that's what." She said, jokingly, walking with Draco.

"LOL. That's what muggle's say, right?" Draco asked.

"Yeah! How did you know?" Hermione asked, taken aback.

"Well… I made this Facebook account, I think it was called, after I finally found out how to use the darn computer, of course, and I got some muggle 'friends' on Facebook… And they said LOL… And I was completely dumbfounded. So I went onto Goggle," Draco started.

"Not Goggle, you idiot, Google." Hermione corrected.

"Yeah, whatever Google, and searched up what does LOL mean, darn is the keyboard easy to use, I mean, with those letters on the keys, and anyway, it said Laugh Out Loud. I don't really get why people say that, but, I get the gist at least." Draco said. He looked really proud of himself.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at his story and his proud expression.

"Wow… I'm really proud of you. I can't believe how you actually found out how the computer works. Most wizards and witches don't even know how to turn it on. Your next challenge, a telephone. Ron tried using it once but he ended up hollering into it, with Mr. Dursley, Harry's uncle, hanging up on him." Hermione said, laughing.

"A telephone? Oh, you mean a fellytone. How are you supposed to use it? I don't get it!" Draco said, like an exasperated kid.

"No, its name is actually a telepho- AHHH!" Hermione said, as she tripped over someone's leg.

Draco rushed forward and caught her.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Draco asked, with a concerned face, helping her up.

"Move, ferret." Ron said, pushing him aside, causing Hermione to fall on her bottom.

"Stop your jealous acts, Weasel. By doing them, you're just hurting Hermione." Draco said angrily, helping Hermione up again.

"First of all, you guys call each other Weasel and Ferret, and if you think about it, both are quite similar. Grow up! PLEASE! Second of all, this is the second time this has happened. Didn't Luna and Ginny tell you to keep away from me, until I decided if I should forgive you or not?" Hermione said, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. Please forgive me. And just stay away from the Ferret. He's probably plotting against you." Ron said, sincerely.

Thoughts of Draco doing something like that hadn't even crossed her mind. But Draco… He wouldn't… He was too kind…

"I doubt it Ron. He, unlike you, actually understands what I'm going through right now. And I don't think I can forgive you… UGH! I'll just think about it!" Hermione said.

"There are too many men in my life." Hermione mumbled to herself.

"I didn't catch that, Hermione, could you please say it again?" Draco asked.

"Nothing." Hermione said quickly. She watched as Harry came and dragged Ron away from them.

"Anyway, we should go eat. Bye for now, Draco." Hermione said, walking towards the Griffindor table, looking back at him giving him a little wave.

"Bye!" Draco said, waving back, and he turned around and walked towards the Slytherin table.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! If you aren't a big fan of the weasel, review! It's kind of turning into Draco's POV, and then Hermione's POV… Review also, if you think that them calling each other Ferret and Weasel is kind of cute… (Because they're both such similar animals)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this new chapter! My friends have been nagging me about writing a new chapter… so here it is guys! J (Sorry most of my chapters so far is Hermione ranting about Ron, or Draco and Hermione quality time)**

**Ranting about a Weasel and other problems**

"Why's your damn brother such a bloody damn idiot?" Hermione ranted to Ginny.

"Sorry, he-weasels are usually not as bad as this. It's just that Ron is so jealous of Draco and you spending so much time together. I don't see why. You and him are so completely through. You're practically with Draco already." Ginny said.

"What are you talking about Ginny? We only held hands. It's nothing official… yet." Hermione said.

"I think your relationship is adorable! But I think mine and Blaise's is more." Luna said dreamily.

Hermione and Ginny laughed. Luna had changed so much, and this was all thanks to Blaise.

"Why is Ron messing with me, when you two firmly told him not to go near me? Why is he such an idiot sometimes? It's just… I DON'T GET IT! Why is everything so… what do the American's say? Fricking, isn't it? Why is everything so fricking confusing?" Hermione yelled at last. She didn't care if the whole Great Hall heard her; she just needed to shout it.

"Why don't we take a walk?" Ginny quickly said, getting up and gesturing Luna to as well. They all got up and Ginny led them out of the Great Hall and towards the Astronomy tower, with everyone staring at Hermione as they left.

"Why are we coming here? It's not even night yet." Hermione said.

"Yes… but… just wait and see the surprise." Ginny said mysteriously.

When they finally reached the AstronomyTower, Ginny walked over to a wall and pushed a certain brick. And then another. All of a sudden, a secret door appeared.

They walked through the door and there was a streak of light. Hermione squinted at the bright light and realized that it was the sun. A soft, cool breeze came and Hermione gasped at her beautiful surroundings.

"This is… amazing! Where are we?" Hermione asked.

"I must agree with Hermione… How do you know of this place?" Luna asked with an excited voice.

"Well… when Fred died… apparently he had made a will, just for jokes, just in case he actually did die. And in it, there was a special message to me. Apparently, he and George would both come here after they had fights… and they would forgive each other here… He told me that if I was having any trouble… to come here." Ginny said, with a tear on her face.

"This is the first time I have ever came here before… But… It was as beautiful as I would have imagined it." Ginny said.

"Thank you, Ginny… For bringing us to such a beautiful place as this…" Hermione said, touched. **(A/N: Don't you agree that that's just touching? Anyone feel touched? Do any of you hear angels singing? Please review)**

"I'm so glad that I could see this place." Luna said dreamily looking up to the birds singing.

They all sat on a bench that had George and Fred's initials carved all over it… There was messages from those two all over it. They sat while Ginny traced her fingers over the carvings while crying softly.

Hermione stood up and pulled Ginny up.

"You look like you're in desperate needs of a hug." Hermione said softly. And then she hugged Ginny as Ginny cried. Luna too got up, and started hugging both of them.

After a few minutes, Ginny had calmed down.

"Sorry guys, for making you see me cry." Ginny said.

"No problem, Ginny. That's what friends are for, isn't it? And I know if I need someone to lean on, then I'll lean on you." Hermione said, referring to the song, "Lean on me" by Bill Withers.

Ginny and Luna looked at her, confused.

"There's a great muggle song that says words like that. It's a beautiful song called, "Lean on me". As the late Professor Dumbledore once said, 'Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here!' The song goes like this." Hermione said softly. Then she sang it softly to Ginny and Luna.

"_Lean on me, When you're not strong, I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on, For, it won't be long, 'Til I'm gonna need, somebody to lean on."_

**A/N: Personally I loved that chapter so much! The song is "Lean on me" by Bill Withers. Go check it out, if you don't know it already. It's a great song.**

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**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and I'll try to keep you guys updated! For my story, Draco and the Philosopher's Stone, for you who are reading, sorry, I have a writer's block, I'll try to get past it! Thanks for all the reviews, guys!**

**Disclaimer: I'd love to own Harry Potter, but I'm afraid that I don't**

**Potions Class**

"Now, here are the partner pairs for Potions Class, you will have to choose a potion to make with your partner, and try to perfect it. This is worth a tenth of your grade. Draco Malfoy with Hermione Granger," Professor Slughorn began.

"Of all luck." Hermione mumbled to herself. Well… maybe it was a good thing that they were together.

"So, Granger, we're together." Malfoy said.

"Back to last name basis, are we, _Malfoy_?" Hermione asked.

"Erm… Sorry. I'm just so used to calling you by your last name… so… sorry. So, _Hermione_, what potion shall we make?" Draco said.

"Um… I don't know, _Draco_, do you have any suggestions?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe… Veritaserum is a good potion, isn't it? And quite hard to make, I think." Draco said.

"The truth serum?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"Yeah, why not?" Draco asked defensively.

"Um… I don't really want to… How about the Polyjuice Potion?" Hermione asked. The reason she didn't want to make Veritaserum was because she didn't want to test it on herself. For she might say something that she did not want to say.

"Sure! Although, it's really advanced stuff, I'm sure we can pull it off. It just gives more excitement!" Draco said.

"I've made it before." Hermione said.

"Really? When?" Draco asked, surprised.

Hermione thought back. There was that time in Year Two… when she had used it to find out if Draco was the Heir of the Slytherin or not. And there was another time in Year Seven, when they used it to get into the Ministry of Magic and get the Horcrux from that horrible woman, Umbridge.

"Well… I made it when we were going into the Ministry of Magic as other people, to get the Horcrux from Umbridge." Hermione said, not mentioning the first time she had made it, when she had used it to pretend to be Millicent Bullstrode… That hadn't worked very well; she ended up turning into a cat. She shuddered at the memory.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, concerned.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing." Hermione said.

"It's not nothing. You shuddered for a reason, and you replied too fast." Draco said.

"No, it's really nothing." Hermione said. "Let's just start and make the potion already."

"… Fine. Whatever." Draco said at last.

"So… we need Lacewing flies that were stewed for 21 days, leeches, powdered bicorn horn, knotgrass, fluxweed that was picked at the full moon, shredded boomslang skin and hair of the person that you want to turn into." Hermione said.

"We have all of them except for the hair of the person that we want to turn into. Who should it be?" Draco asked.

"How about… yours?" Hermione asked.

"No… not my hair! My precious, beautiful, platinum blond hair can't be touched." Draco said.

Hermione couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he really meant it. She wouldn't be surprised for either.

"C'mon, just be a man and pluck some hairs out." Hermione said.

"No! Don't touch my hair! My hair is one of my best features you know." Draco said, looking offended.

"You want me to take it out then? Fine." Hermione said reaching over to try and pluck some hair out.

"NO!" Draco said, blocking her hand with his arm. He kept on defending himself until he accidently pushed her and she fell backwards. There was a moment of silence and Draco felt his heart pound and he instinctively grabbed for her.

He caught her and found that she was knocked out.

"Oh merlin. I didn't her that hard. She's so weak? What's with her totally weak body? Oh no." Draco said, worried.

"Professor, I'm going to take Hermione to Madam Pomfrey. She's not feeling well." Draco said hastily, as he half dragged, half carried her to the hospital wing.

"Sure, sure, go ahead boy." Professor Slughorn replied to him.

When he finally got to the hospital wing, he lifted her onto one of the empty beds and started to stroke her hair when…

"Mr. Malfoy. What are you doing here?" Madam Pomfrey's sharp voice came.

"O-oh." Draco said standing up. "You see, Hermione here fainted in Potion's class, and so that's why I brought her to you."

"Young love. The memories it brings back." Madam Pomfrey murmured to herself, smiling.

"Should I just leave her here or…" Draco trailed off.

"Let me check her. She seems perfectly fine, and she'll wake up in an hour or so." Madam Pomfrey said.

Draco let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you. I'll be off then, and I'll be back in an hour!" Draco said, walking back to Potions class.

When he got back to Potions class, Ron came up to him.

"What was that all about, huh Malfoy? You better not have hurt her. If you did, I swear I'll hurt you." Ron said.

"Whoa. That's so intimidating, it feels like I'm going to cry." Draco said in a sarcastic voice.

"Break it up, you two." Harry said, coming towards them.

"Tell that to the guy who started this mess." Draco mumbled.

"What did you say?!" Ron asked.

"Calm down. I'm not here to fight you, okay? If you're angry about Hermione, I mean, we're not together, alright? We're just friends." Draco said. _For now._

But Draco's placating seemed to make Ron even more infuriated.

"Friends? **You** friends with **Hermione Granger**? Who would have ever thought? Bloody hell no way! You probably charmed her somehow." Ron said.

"So, you're saying she likes me? Well that's probably because no one can resist my good looks." Draco said.

"No- I mean- just- forget it!" Ron said, stalking off.

"Draco. I'm not going to take this as badly as Ron, but I swear, if you touch her or hurt her in any way, you **will** have to talk to me." Harry said. Draco could tell that Harry loved Hermione as a sister.

"Yeah, no problem." Draco said.

Harry walked away, leaving everyone in the room looking at him. He sat down, got his Potions textbook out and took notes on how to make a Polyjuice potion for Hermione.

**A/N: Ooooh! Draco got pushy! Please review! :) Also, check out my friend bonniebonbon, she's good!**

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**A/N: I'm updating because some of you really wanted me too! :) Thanks for all the support, guys!**

**Hospital Wing**

"ugh… stupid… platinum blond hair… sex god…" Hermione was mumbling in her sleeping state.

Hermione woke up to an unfamiliar place. Wait- She knew this place. She was in the Hospital Wing.

She tried to remember what had happened. Potions Class… She and Draco were partners, and they had to choose a potion to brew… Polyjuice potion! Draco's HAIR! Everything started coming back to her. She had tried to get a hair from him and he had pushed her. And everything went fuzzy after that.

She tried to get up but…

"Ms. Granger! Do not restrain yourself! You were just unconscious!" Madam Pomfrey said, rushing over to her.

"Mr. Malfoy asked me to tell him when you were awake… Better send him an owl." She mumbled.

She went off and scribbled something on a piece of paper and gave it to her owl, who flew off.

Shortly after, Draco Malfoy came rushing into the Hospital Wing. He looked quite flustered, which made him look cuter than ever. Wait… why was Hermione thinking these things? Draco had knocked her unconscious!

"You filthy moron! How could you-" Hermione started shrieking at him.

"Calm down! Calm down! Please! I'm so sorry that I pushed you, and I don't know what happened, but you suddenly got unconscious for some reason. I know, I know, it's probably my fault, and I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Draco said, putting his hands together and looking down.

Hermione just stared at him. Then she burst out laughing.

He looked up surprised, and asked her, "Why are you laughing?"

"It's just- you- you- you begged me- ME- a MUDBLOOD for bloody sake for- for-" She said, trying not to laugh but failed, miserably and started laughing again.

He started smiling, which turned into laughter as well. Her laughter was contagious, for some reason, and it was just so bloody beautiful.

"YOU, begged ME, a MUDBLOOD for forgiveness!" Hermione said at last.

"I changed." Draco said quietly.

"I know. I know." Hermione said.

"Ms. Granger, you look like you are fine, but you shall rest for an hour until you can leave." Madam Pomfrey said.

"But- but- I can't afford to miss any more classes!" Hermione said, looking as if she might cry.

"Fine, fine, if you insist, go!" Madam Pomfrey said at last.

"YAY! Thank you so much, Madam Pomfrey!" Hermione said, looking overjoyed.

"Now off you go!" Madam Pomfrey said.

"Yes, yes." Hermione said quickly, and she got up, out of her bed, until she realized something.

"Madam Pomfrey? How long was I out for?" She asked.

"It seems like, hm…. An hour or so?" Madam Pomfrey said.

"SHOOT! I missed some of Transfiguration!" Hermione said. "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" Hermone murmured, pacing back and forth.

"Are classes all you worry about?" Draco asked, wondrously.

"No. Of course not!" Hermione said.

"Don't worry. I'm sure Pott- Harry and the Weasel took some notes for you or something." Draco said reassuringly.

"You think that Ron and Harry are the type that actually take notes in class?" Hermione said shrilly.

"Um… yes?" Draco said with an unsure voice.

"They're not! All these years, I've taken notes for them. Sometimes I worry that they're just my friends _because_ I take notes for them, and fix all of their stuff!" Hermione retorted.

"Oh. Why are you even friends with them then?" Draco asked.

"Well… Harry's really nice and he's saved my life a bunch of times-" Hermione began

"And I'm sure you've saved his life before too." Draco interrupted.

"Yes, I have, but still, anyway, and he's a really good friend, because he appreciates me for who I am-" Hermione continued

"Who wouldn't?" Draco mumbled.

"What was that? Anyway, and he understands me very well." Hermione ended.

"Ron… Well, um… His family's really nice!" Hermione said at last.

"So who gives a damn about his family? We're talking about him, for goodness sake!" Draco said, exasperated.

"I can't really find his good qualities…" Hermione admitted at last.

"And why are you doing his homework for him, like a house elf then?" Draco demanded.

"Well… Harry's friends with him, and they're a package deal?" Hermione said, unsure.

"Can you two please not disturb my other patients by talking so much and get out of here?" Madam Pomfrey asked after watching this exchange, sighing.

"Oh yes, ma'am. We're sorry!" Draco said quickly.

"You better hope you are." She said.

"Let's get out of here, Draco." Hermione said.

"Yeah, sure." Draco replied.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed, I know the ending was pretty terrible… Sorry about that, anyway, please review, favourite and follow!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thanks for all of the support everyone! I mean it. Hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

**Why do we have to argue?**

"HERMIONE!" Ginny, Harry and Ron all said at once as Hermione walked into Transfiguration Class.

"What happened? What did Malfoy do to you? Did he do anything to hurt you? He better not have… or I'll…" Ron said, cracking his knuckles.

"You'll do what?" Draco asked, walking up behind Hermione.

"I'll duel you!" Ron said.

"RON WEASLEY! First of all, Draco didn't do anything to me. I was just really tired so I fainted out of exhaustion, got it? And you won't duel, I won't have it. Draco and I are the Head Boy and Girl, we'll take away points from Gryffindor, and we won't regret it, so you better watch your bloody mouth. And what, exactly, are you doing near me again? Didn't I tell you several times already to stay away from me for now? I might make that permanent!" Hermione shrieked, threateningly.

"Hermione… it's just- Malfoy- idiot- UGH! If you want me to stay away from you, then I will, happily! Who wants, when you're just going to shriek at me all day long?" Ron bellowed.

"I, for one, like Hermione's company." Draco said.

"I wasn't asking for your opinion, Fer- Malfoy." Ron said, sharply.

"Technically, you were, because you said, 'Who want you around them anyway' so I answered." Draco drawled.

"You want to fight? Now?" Ron asked.

"Whatever you want, Weasel." Draco said, sticking to his old nickname.

"Harry's my second, and who's yours?" Ron snarled.

"Me." Hermione said, stepping up.

"NO." Ron and Draco both said at once.

"You're going to get hurt!" Draco said, concerned.

"I'm not fighting a girl." Ron said, looking away.

"First of all, Draco, I don't care if I'm going to get hurt. I just really want to hex Ron right now. Second of all, Ron, if you don't fight me, it's just proving what a chicken you are. He's not a Weasel, Draco, he's a chicken." Hermione said.

"Fine. Let's fight then." Ron said.

"But- but… I'm not getting involved in this. Not between two of my best friends. I'm sorry, but I've lost enough house points for this lifetime." Harry said.

"Harry, you have to! Who'll be my second then?" Ron whined.

No one spoke up.

_Typical._ Hermione thought. _Of course no one would want to fight against the former Death Eater and the "brightest witch of the year"_

"Looks like we won't be able to fight then, since you don't have a second." Draco said, sneering at him.

"Look, guys, don't fight. Hermione, you and Ma- Draco, are the Head Girl and Boy; you can't afford to get into trouble, you might lose your titles. Why do we have to argue?" Ginny said, at almost the exact same time.

"Fine, Ginny. Whatever you say." Hermione said sighing. She had been really looking forward to this fight, for some reason.

"But- 10 points from Gryffindor, Ron." Hermione said.

"What? Hermione-" Ron started.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Hermione said, cutting him off.

"Well yeah…" Ron said.

"You are really dense, Ron. That was a rhetorical question, you idiot!" Hermione said.

"What does rhetorical mean?" Ron asked.

"NOTHING!" Hermione said, walking out of the classroom.

"Wait, Hermione, we need to be in class!" Harry yelled after her as another voice came.

"Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing here? You need to be in Muggle Studies!" Professor McGonagall's voice said.

"OH! Sorry… shoot. I was walking Hermione back to class, and I sort of got distracted. Sorry! This won't happen again! Or I'll try not to let it!" Draco said apologetically.

Ron and Harry just gaped at him. Draco was saying sorry, **and**he was taking MUGGLE STUDIES!

"You see, he did change." Hermione said quietly, so only the two of them could hear.

"I just wish you would give him a chance, Ron." Hermione continued.

"Oh, Hermione? Here, we took notes for you!" Harry said, handing over notes that Ron and Harry had tried to take from Charms class.

"Thanks…" Hermione said.

"Don't mention it. It was the least we could do, for all of the times you've done it for us." Harry said meaningfully.

"Hermione. Here's some notes that I took for making the Polyjuice Potion, just in case." Draco said, handing over the notes and walking out of the class.

"Thanks." Hermione said.

"Class is over, you lot! Get your stuff!" Professor McGonagall said, making Hermione jump.

"Oh… yes ma'am!" Hermione said, gathering all of her stuff, and waited Ginny to be ready to go to their next class.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked, worriedly.

"Yeah. There's just too many men in my life." Hermione said.

"That's soon going to become one of your saying's." Ginny said, chuckling. "'Too many men in my life.' Hermione Granger."

"Hey, I'm only saying the truth!" Hermione said defensively.

"I was just kidding! Calm down!" Ginny said. **(A/N: I debated on Ginny saying chill, and saying calm down… but do British people say chill? I don't know…")**

"Hey Hermione?" Ron asked quietly.

"Yes?" Hermione said, sighing.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Ron said.

"OK… I forgive you. I think you can hang around me again… but please… just give Draco a chance. PLEASE." Hermione said softly.

"I'll try…" Ron said.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please review, favourite, follow, you know the drill! J**

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**A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter! XD**

**Forgiven… for now**

Hermione sighed. She had a huge headache. At least she had some peace for now.

Hermione was inside the Room of Requirement, at the place where Draco had taken her before. It was peaceful, and the sun was shining brightly.

This time, instead of a bench, there was a comfy chair for one person. She sat there, comfortably, thinking about all of the troubles in my life.

It was after dinner, and she had so much stress as it was, and so she came here.

_I really need a stress ball_. _Are there any at Hogsmeade, I wonder? Probably not._ Hermione thought to herself.

"Hey…" A voice came from behind her.

Hermione spun around, surprised.

There Draco was, standing with a smirk on his face.

"Why do you always smirk? Smile!" Hermione said, without realizing what she was saying.

His smirk gradually became a smile.

"If you say so." He said, smirking again.

"You're smirking again…" Hermione said, smirking at him.

"AHHH! Your smirking is contagious!" Hermione said!

"Sorry, it's just a bad habit. But the ladies like it!" Draco joked, smirking.

"Enough with the smirking already, I get it!" Hermione said, covering her eyes. _I can't see him smirk… he's right, the ladies do like it when he smirks… Why does he have to be so damn cute when he smirks? _**(A/N: I want to see him smirk everyday! LOL. That last line was kind of stolen from this anime/manga called Fruits Basket that I'm really obsessed with… Sorry for the OOC, I know she doesn't swear that much)**

Draco started laughing.

"You're so cute when you're annoyed, you know that?" Draco said.

"Um…. Thanks?" Hermione said awkwardly, uncovering her eyes.

"I'm such an idiot! I'm a witch for goodness sake!" Hermione said, slapping herself on her forehead.

"You're not an idiot! I don't know what you're talking about! You're the brightest witch of our year!" Draco said.

"No… That's not what I meant. Accio Stress Ball." Hermione said.

Suddenly, a stress ball came flying towards her and Hermione caught it triumphantly.

"Ah… Just what I needed." Hermione said.

"What's that?" Draco said, curiously.

"Didn't you hear me? It's a stress ball." Hermione said. "Muggles use it, when they're stressed they just squeeze the ball really hard. It helps you take your energy out."

"Can I try?" Draco asked.

"Sure." Hermione answered, handing the yellow stress ball to Draco. **(A/N: It's yellow because I just got one that's yellow. :P although it has this weird face on it that looks like the character from M&M's)**

Draco started squeezing it really hard. It looked like it was about to break.

"Draco! You're not supposed to squeeze it that hard!" Hermione said, laughing.

"Really? It feels good though…" Draco said, looking disappointed.

"Well… I suppose if it feels good…" Hermione said.

"OK!" Draco said, brightening up and squeezing it hard once again. This time it did break.

"I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" Draco said, looking terrified.

"Don't worry. We're wizards and witches after all. Reparo." Hermione said waving her wand at the destroyed stress ball, and it was fixed once more.

"See, you are the brightest witch of our year!" Draco said, smirking.

"Here we go again…" Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"So, you've forgiven Ron?" Draco said, his expression becoming more serious.

"Yeah… for now." Hermione said, sighing. "I have a feeling Ron's going to do something terrible… AGAIN. What's up with him these days, I don't get it!"

"That's probably because he's jealous." Draco said.

"Jealous? Why would he be jealous?" Hermione asked, pretending to be confused.

"Because of me." Draco said leaning in for the kiss.

Hermione was shocked at first. She wasn't expecting this. Then she started responding eagerly, her hands going through his silky, platinum blond hair.

Then suddenly, she pulled away.

"I-I'm not sure about this… I just… need time to think." Hermione said, running out of the Room of Requirement, and straight into Ron.

**A/N: Hope you liked! Does the ending have suspense? I'm kind of stuck right now… Any ideas? Thanks for reading! Please R&R! :P**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! :P**

**Dealing with Ron's fury**

"Just what- What in the name of Merlin's saggy, may I ask were you doing in there? WITH DRACO?" Ron bellowed. **(A/N: I only used merlin's saggy because it was in the last book… It was, right?)**

"It's- It's none of your business!" Hermione said, trying to push by him.

Ron stepped in front of her path, trying to block her way. "Tell me!" Ron said.

"NO!" Hermione said, trying to run past him.

"I swear… if you don't tell me… I'll…" Ron threatened.

"You'll do what?" Draco's voice came, as he walked out the Room of Requirement.

"You! What did you do to Hermione?" Ron yelled at him.

"I didn't do anything to her. And even if I did, why would I tell you? And why are you blocking our way? Let us pass." Draco drawled.

"Why should I?" Ron asked.

"Because if you don't, I'll hex you." Hermione said coolly.

"Do you know what it's like to be hexed by Hermione?" Draco asked. "Because I sure do."

"Yeah, that's because I hated you!" Hermione said laughing.

"So, are you getting out of the way, or not?" Draco asked.

"I'll just… You're going to hear about this later!" Ron said, stalking off.

"Thank Merlin he's gone. Thank you, Draco. Now… I need to think." Hermione said, leaving Draco just staring after her.

Hermione went to the only place that she knew could be peace. The place Ginny had shown her. So she went off towards the AstronomyTower.

Once she finally arrived there, she pushed the two bricks that Ginny had pushed. And then a door appeared, and Hermione opened the door, to see sunlight and a cool breeze.

Surprisingly, someone was already there.

"Ginny? What's the matter?" Hermione said as she saw Ginny crying on the bench.

"I had a nightmare this morning… And I can't stop thinking about it!" Ginny said, between sobs.

"What was the dream about, Ginny?" Hermione said, trying to soothe her.

"I don't really want to talk about it…" Ginny said, wiping away her tears.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.

"No…" Ginny said.

"Well… can I tell you how great and horrible my day was?" Hermione asked.

"Sure…" Ginny said.

"So… after Transfiguration class, I went into the Room of Requirements for some peace, because the Room of Requirements can turn really beautiful, and then Draco came… and we were talking… and then we ended up talking about why Ron was jealous… and then Draco… he KISSED me! And so I ran out of the Room of Requirements-"

"Why did you do that? He was finally damnit kissing you!" Ginny said, laughing while crying. **(A/N: Is that how you spell damnit? I don't know…)**

"I wasn't sure about our relationship… I was kissing him back for a bit… but then… and then I ran out of the Room of Requirements, and I ran into Ron! And I think that he saw me coming in there, and then Draco… so he freaked out at me… and then I tried to get past him… and I didn't tell him what had really happened in there… and then Draco came out, and I threatened to hex Ron… So he left… and then I came here." Hermione ended.

"What a crazy day, Hermione." Ginny said. "They shouldn't worry you so much… You just got out of the Hospital Wing!" Ginny continued, ranting about them. "STUPID MEN!" Ginny ended.

"Haha… thanks Gin." Hermione said. "Now, do you want to tell me about your nightmare?" Hermione asked.

"OK… Although it'll seem so much not as worrisome as your day…" Ginny said.

"Don't worry." Hermione said.

"So… my nightmare was of Fred… and he was blaming me for dying, 'Mione! He said, maybe, if I was in the fight, then maybe he wouldn't have died! If I was fighting, then something would have changed. And when he said that, the look in his eyes was so scary… It hurt me so much, 'Mione! So much…" Ginny ended, in tears, holding her heart.

"Ginny… don't trust a word that your dream Fred said… It's not true. At that time you were too young, and your mother wanted you out of the fight, although I'm sure you could have held your own perfectly fine… And Fred might have still died… It's not your fault Gin, it's not your fault… Don't worry about it… It's not your fault…" Hermione said soothingly, trying to calm Ginny down.

"But- it could be true… he wouldn't have died if I went out…" Ginny wailed.

"Don't worry about it, Gin. Fred wouldn't blame you, I'm sure of it. If Fred was here right now, he would be trying to make you laugh, so that you wouldn't be crying." Hermione said.

"You know… you just might be right…" Ginny said, wiping away her tears once more.

"If you're going through a hard time… you just have to think of something that makes you smile, and you'll be going through such a better time smiling then crying." Hermione said gently.

"Thanks Hermione. I really do appreciate your help." Ginny said.

Luna came in suddenly, and looked almost as shocked to see them there.

"Why are you guys here?" Luna asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Hermione said, trying to keep a straight face. But she ended up laughing.

"I'm sorry, this just happened again." Hermione said, after laughing.

"I'm kind of confused right now…" Luna said.

"So, I came in here for peace, and I found Ginny here, and now you came here, and found us here." Hermione explained.

"Oh… But really, why are you here?" Luna asked.

"Well… as I said, I came here for peace, because I was just having a really hard day and all, and Ginny was here…" Hermione trailed off, looking at Ginny to make sure she could say the rest.

Ginny gave a slight nod, and so Hermione started explaining the rest. "Ginny had a nightmare, so she just wanted to come here."

"Oh. I'm here because… well Blaise… He… kind of…" Luna trailed off looking down.

"Did he break up with you? He better not have because if he did I will hex him until he regrets even thinking about it…" Hermione threatened.

"He better not have… And right when I started to approving him being your boyfriend…" Ginny said.

"No, no… That's not it. Blaise was just talking about the future, and getting married and all… and well I was just kind of surprised and shocked… I mean, I knew that this talk was going to come… but I was just surprised and not ready for it so I just told him I needed to think and I ran here." Luna said.

"Blimey… I didn't even think about that stuff yet…" Hermione and Ginny both said.

"I mean, I really want to get married with Harry and all…" Ginny said.

"Draco and my relationship is not even real yet… Not saying that I don't want it to be though…" Hermione said quickly.

"I'm rather tired. I think I'm going to go to the Gryffindor tower and grab a quick nap before dinner." Ginny said.

"You know what? Me too." Hermione said.

"OK then, I'll see you two for dinner then." Luna said.

**A/N: Did you like it? I didn't really know how to start this chapter up, but once I started writing, I was on a roll! Please review, follow and favourite. Sorry for the not very suspenseful ending, but I just needed to end it.**

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**A/N: Hope you like this chapter! :P**

**Draco's POV**

Draco was shocked. He was so sure that his and Hermione's relationship was going to go smoothly and then… she had just left. But she had said that she just needed to think about it, so at least she didn't turn him down completely.

Hearing shouting, he went out of the Room of Requirements.

"I swear… if you don't tell me… I'll…" He heard the weasel threatening Hermione.

"You'll do what?" Draco drawled.

"You! What did you do to Hermione?" Ron bellowed at him.

"I didn't do anything to her. And even if I did, why would I tell you? And why are you blocking our way? Let us pass." Draco said nonchalantly.

"Why should I?" Ron asked, sneering at him.

"Because if you don't, I'll hex you." Hermione said coolly.

_That's my girl!_ Draco thought to himself.

"Do you know what it's like to be hexed by Hermione? Because I sure do." Draco said.

"Yeah, that's because I hated you!" Hermione said laughing.

_Oh. She was acting so that Ron would think that nothing at all was wrong between their relationship. What a great actor. _Draco thought.

"So, are you getting out of the way, or not?" Draco asked.

"I'll just… You're going to hear about this later!" Ron shouted, running away like the weasel that he was.

"Thank Merlin he's gone. Thank you, Draco. Now… I need to think." Hermione said, walking off and leaving Draco staring at her.

Draco sighed and he pressed his back onto the wall as he thought about what he had done wrong, and what he should have done, instead of the kiss.

"There's really no use just standing there and thinking about it… You've got to make her like you. Do something!" Luna said, surprising him.

"Oh. Hello Luna. Do you really think that I have to do something special?" Draco asked her. Luna was a girl after all. He needed a girl's opinion on this.

"Yes. You have to do something to make her like you. Something that stands out from the rest of the guy's who drool after her." Luna said, with her eyes glowing with excitement.

"Hey Luna! Hey Draco! Can we talk, Luna?" Blaise said, walking towards them.

"Can we? I'm sure we can." Luna said, chuckling slightly.

"No, I mean seriously." Blaise said.

"Sure." Luna said, looking nervous.

After a minute or two, Blaise came back, with Luna running towards the AstronomyTower.

"What did you say to her to make her go running off, man? You don't want to lose her, Blaise." Draco said.

"I just wanted to talk to her about after Hogwarts… Are we going to get married or what? Is this relationship full of meaning?" Blaise said.

"Dude. Just stop. Stop. You're a romantic dude. You're not supposed to say things like that yet! We just started the school year! That's got to be a shock to her. Why do you think she went running off?" Draco said.

"I don't know… well I do know… But I got this feeling that I should say it to her today." Blaise said.

"You got a feeling? Dude, are you alright?" Draco asked.

"Are you alright? When did you start saying dude and man?" Blaise asked.

"I don't know… I just wanted to seem… more muggle? To stand out so that Hermione will actually fall for me?" Draco said.

"What happened?" Blaise asked.

"Well… I kissed her…" Draco said.

"Finally! Thank God. And then…" Blaise said.

"She kind of… ran away…" Draco trailed off.

"How bad of a kisser are you? You're not that bad are you?" Blaise asked, shaking his head.

"I am not a bad kisser! How dare you suggest such a thing!" Draco said, furious.

"Why did she run away then? We are both such bad boyfriends… Our girlfriends both ran away from us! NO! What is the future of our relationships?" Blaise said, melodramatically.

"First of all… me and Hermione aren't really in a relationship yet… She ran away because she wasn't sure about our relationship… and then she ran into the WEASEL! Of all people why the weasel? And now he has a feeling something is going on between us…" Draco said.

"I would too, if I was him. My ex-girlfriend, in a room with my nemesis, and my ex-girlfriend, who I still like a lot, comes running out! Then my nemesis comes out, and is acting suspicious." Blaise said, empathetically.

"BLAISE ZABINI! This is not a time to be empathetic! And especially not of the WEASEL of all people!" Draco said, exasperated.

"But, you can see my point, right?" Blaise said.

"Well… yeah." Draco said.

"Draco! Please say that the rumours going around aren't true! Please say it." Pansy's high voice came as she launched herself at him.

Draco easily sidestepped her body, and asked her, "What rumours?"

"That you and the MUDBLOOD, are together!" Pansy shrieked.

"First of all, don't call her a mudblood, second of all, why would you care if me and Hermione were together?" Draco asked, sneering.

"Because… I'M YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Pansy said enraged.

"Since when?" Draco sputtered.

"Forever! Don't you remember the necklaces?" Pansy said, showing off a necklace that showed half a heart with the letter D on it.

"So that necklace was from you? I threw it out a long time ago!" Draco said. "Remember? How me and Astoria-"

"Don't say that name in front of me!" Pansy said.

"-were supposed to get married, so I threw it out… Thank merlin that mother ended that marriage." Draco said. "Anyway, I'm feeling tired, so I'm going to sleep until dinner. Wake me up, won't you, Blaise?"

"Yeah, of course I will!" Blaise said.

"You're feeling tired, Dracey? Oh no! You must sleep immediately!" Pansy said, pushing him towards the dungeons.

"Yeah, bye!" Draco said.

**A/N: How did you like Draco's POV? Poor Draco, being called Dracey by PANSY! :P UGH, I feel him.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! Happy Family Day everyone! The title's from Les Miserables, and there's this really awesome Youtuber who did this video singing a few parts of it, and it was just him, and he can do a girl voice, and a guy voice… He's amazing. Check him out. His name is Nick Pitera.)**

**I dreamed a dream**

_"You mudblood! Where did you get this sword! Tell me!" Bellatrix Lestrange bellowed at Hermione._

_"It's not real… It's a fake! A fake!" Hermione said whimpering._

_"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix said._

_Hermione screamed._

_Hermione looked around for anyone to save her. There Draco was, standing there, just doing nothing._

_"TELL ME! Where did you get the sword? CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screamed._

_Hermione screamed again. "It's a fake! I'm telling you-"_

_"CRUCIO! Tell me the truth. If you don't, I will surely kill you." Bellatrix threatened._

_"I'm telling you the truth… please believe me, it's a fake, it's not real!" Hermione said, crying freely now._

_"You mudblood! You don't deserve to have your filthy blood on our carpet! This is your last chance! Tell me where you got the sword!" Bellatrix threatened._

_"Please believe me! It's a fake!" Hermione whimpered._

_"CRUCIO!"_

Hermione woke up, screaming.

"'Mione, you alright? 'Mione?" Ginny's voice came.

"I dreamed a dream… it was a nightmare, not a dream." Hermione said.

"About the same thing?" Ginny asked gently.

"Yes. Bellatrix kept on crucioing me. Ginny… I could feel her hurting me! And Draco… he was just standing there… doing NOTHING! It hurt so much!" Hermione said, crying.

Ginny hugged her gently as Hermione cried into her.

"Don't worry. It's over now, 'Mione. Don't worry. Calm down. It's over now. Draco's changed. Don't worry. He would never let anyone hurt you now. Don't worry. Bellatrix is dead. Don't worry." Ginny said soothingly.

"Th-thanks Gin." Hermione said, wiping her tears away.

"No problem. What time is it?" Ginny asked.

"6:30… 6:30! Oh Ginny! We're late for dinner! And I look like a mess!" Hermione said, looking in the mirror.

"Here, let's get ready fast." Ginny said, quickly changing into her robes, and brushing her hair.

Hermione quickly brushed her tangled hair and it was straight again.

"Let's go!" Hermione said when she and Ginny were finally ready.

They quickly hurried down to the Great Hall and when they got there, Hermione looked for Luna, who was sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

Harry sent an enquiring look at Ginny, but she just shrugged and walked toward the Ravenclaw table.

"We slept in." Hermione said to Luna.

"I can tell." Luna said. "You're 30 minutes late. You're lucky I'm a slow eater."

"The food looks good!" Ginny said grabbing a whole lot of food.

"Gin, how do you eat so much, and yet remain so skinny?" Hermione asked.

"I stay awesome." Ginny joked.

"What is awesome? Oh yeah, it's what American's say, right?" Luna asked.

"Yeah." Ginny said grinning.

"Hey 'Mione. Can we talk?" Draco's voice came.

"No." Hermione said.

"Please?" Draco asked, sitting beside her.

"N-Fine. Sure. Since you said please." Hermione said getting up and pulling Draco after her.

"So… where are we going?" Draco said, breaking the silence.

"Where do you think?" Hermione asked.

"The Room of Requirements?" Draco asked.

"Yeah." Hermione said.

Once they got there, Hermione walked passed the wall three times thinking, "I need a place to talk with Draco… Rather not too small or it'll be uncomfortable."

The door appeared and she pulled the door open.

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" Hermione said to Draco.

Draco followed her past the door and there was a drawing room, much like the one at Malfoy Manor. He felt Hermione stiffen in front of him, as she realized how similar it was.

"You know what? Let's talk somewhere else." Draco said.

"No. I should… face my fears." Hermione said.

"If you want to. But if you feel uncomfortable, we can get out of here. Any time you want." Draco said.

"So… what are we here to talk about?" Hermione asked, sitting down in one of the armchairs.

"I'msosorryonwhatIdidIshouldn'thavekissedyoucanyou pleasefo rgivemeletspretendnothingrea llyhappenedeverythingwillbem uchbetterthencanyoualsoforgi vemefornotactingbeforeandfor justwatchingyoubetorturedbyb ellatrixi'msosorryabouthtatpleaseforgi veme." Draco said without taking a breath.

"Wait what? I didn't understand a word you said." Hermione said.

"I'm so sorry on what I did, I shouldn't have kissed you, can you please forgive me, let's pretend nothing really happened, everything will be much better then. Can you also forgive me for not acting before and for just watching you be tortured by Bellatrix, I'm so sorry about that, please forgive me." Draco repeated, slower this time.

"First of all Draco… I don't really want to forget. I want this, to happen. If only Ron and Harry understood properly then… And… of course I'll forgive you. You've changed since then, Draco." Hermione said.

"What? So… you mean… so you want to be my girlfriend?" Draco asked.

"Yeah… I'd love to." Hermione said, smiling.

Draco just stared at her, speechless. He then got up and hugged her tightly.

She hugged him back, and he lifted her into the air as she squealed.

"Draco, let me down, Draco!" Hermione said.

"But… Hermione? I think you should tell Ron about us… break up with him properly. And for Harry. He's alright with it. He gave me the talk." Draco said.

"Um… Draco? How about… Pansy?" Hermione said.

"Oh merlin. I completely forgot about her. I'll talk to her." Draco said.

"Thank you." Hermione said.

"No problem. So… you deal with the Weasel, and me with Pansy?" Draco asked.

"Well… I'd prefer it if you were there with me, and I was there with you… I don't want to face Ron's wrath alone." Hermione said.

"Yeah, I don't want to face Pansy's alone either. I won't touch the Weasel, unless he hurts you, okay?" Draco said.

"Yeah, sure." Hermione said.

"Um… can I kiss you?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded her head.

**A/N: Did you like? This was a special one… I worked on it all day… (Sorry I'm exaggerating…) Anyway, please review and all. Happy Family Day, and if you're not spending time with your family right now, get off the computer and tell your family how much you love them! That's an order! :P**

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**A/N: Here's the new chapter :P**

**Confronting the Weasel and the Bear**

"Are you ready?" Draco asked.

"Um… yeah. I guess we have to get this over with." Hermione said with a sigh.

"Well… we shouldn't only tell those two, so let's gather everyone together." Draco said.

"Right." Hermione said.

"OK, so we'll tell everyone, I mean our friends to meet us in the Room of Requirements, thinking, I need a place to talk. Then, we'll tell them." Draco said.

"OK, so you go tell your friends, and I'll go tell my friends. Got it?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be off then." Draco said, waving his hand as he jogged down towards the dungeons. **(A/N: Even though that's what it literally is, it just doesn't sound right. To the dungeons! Weird…)**

"Now… I have to go…" Hermione said, quite depressively.

She saw Ginny and saw a great opportunity and rushed towards her. "Um… Ginny? Can you tell… let's see…. Ron, Harry, Luna and… Neville? Anyway tell them to come to the Room of Requirements thinking 'I need a place to talk' in ten minutes okay? You have to come too."

"Sure… why, is it urgent?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"No… don't worry about it. I just… need to tell you something. Well, me and Draco…" Hermione said blushing.

"OMG! Seriously? You're together now? Finally." Ginny said, practically squealing.

"Yeah… But don't tell the others what it's about… oh, and Draco's friends are going to be there too, just to warn you." Hermione said.

"What? Well, I guess that's okay." Ginny said.

"Yeah, well I'll be waiting in the Room of Requirements, so come in ten minutes!" Hermione said, rushing back to the Room of Requirements, glad that she hadn't had the chance to talk to Ron.

Once she finally arrived at the Room of Requirements, she paced back and forth 3 times, thinking, _I need a place to talk_. The door appeared and she rushed into the room, and no one was there.

She sat in one of the armchairs, worrying about what would happen.

A few minutes later the door opened and she jumped in surprise, looking at it, and gave a sigh of relief as she saw that it was Draco.

"Draco… Thank merlin… I'm just so nervous… I don't want Ron to… get that mad." Hermione said, rushing to hug him.

"Try not to let it worry you too much. I want you to be happy, not all depressed, okay?" Draco said into her ear.

"Okay…" Hermione said, going back to sit in the armchair that she had abandoned.

Draco went to the armchair opposing her armchair and sat.

The door opened once again, and this time, Draco and Hermione both jumped up into the air.

"Oh. Hullo Ron." Hermione said.

"What is Malfoy doing here?" Ron asked coldly.

"He's here because I want him to be." Hermione said, glaring at him. "Now let's try not to get into a war until the others arrive."

The door opened once again, and this time, Pansy came through.

"What is the Weasel and Mudblood doing here?" She said in a girly voice.

"Don't call her Mudblood!" Ron and Draco said at the same time.

"I'm here, because Hermione invited me here. I'm not happy to see you and Malfoy here either." Ron retorted.

"Call him Draco; didn't you say that you'd try?" Hermione said to him.

"Um… Now that I think back… maybe?" Ron said.

"You're so clueless sometimes, Ron. Let's just put the past behind us. Pretend that nothing before the war happened." Hermione said.

"No. I can't do that. I can't just forget all the terrible things he said and done to us!" Ron exclaimed.

"Do you think that I don't regret what I've done and said in the past? Do you think I'm actually proud of it? Because I'm not! It's not exactly my fault that I was born as a Malfoy, okay? If I could, I would… change my last name, and take this stupid scar off my arm!" Draco yelled, pulling up his sleeve to show the Dark Mark.

There was silence, and the door opened to Neville, Luna, Harry, Ginny, Blaise, Theodore Nott and Goyle walking through the door.

They all gasped as they saw him showing his Dark Mark, with his hand over it.

"Everyone, it's not what it looks like! He was just ranting about how he hates his scar and his last name." Hermione said quickly.

"So, what did you call us all here for?" Ginny said quickly, changing the subject.

"Well…" Hermione trailed off.

"Me and Hermione are going-" Draco started.

"No way. NO WAY!" Ron roared.

"-out." Draco finished.

"Congrats Hermione, Draco!" Luna and Ginny said together.

"You're lying right?" Pansy asked, shocked.

"Great!" Theodore, Blaise and Goyle said.

"No, he's not lying, there is a way, and thanks guys!" Hermione said, breaking out of her trance.

"What did you do to her MALFOY?" Ron roared.

"Noth-" Draco started.

"Stop. Let us deal with this, you deal with Pansy." Harry said, gesturing to the girl who had just then fainted.

"Theo, Goyle, can you please carry Pansy into the Hospital Wing?" Draco asked sweetly.

"No! Well… since you and Hermione are **finally** together, I guess I'll do this for you… But just this once!" Theodore said, picking Pansy up with Goyle helping, shuddering as they walked out the door.

"Ron! CHILL! You have no right at all to act this way, since you weren't even officially couple with Hermione." Harry shouted at Ron. **(A/N: Now I know British people say chill too, thanks to you people who've told me! J )**

"But- th- the kiss! Me and Hermione kissed!" Ron sputtered.

"Just because we kissed doesn't mean that we have a relationship between each other." Hermione said coldly. "Ron… I just… can we still be friends after this?" Hermione asked, her face expression softening.

"Why? Why Malfoy of all people? He's a DEATH EATER for goodness sake!" Ron said.

And just like that, Draco's patience snapped. "YES, I WAS A DEATH EATER. A DEATH EATER. I HAVE THIS STUPID SCAR TO PROVE IT. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR FAMILY ALL GREW UP, THINKING THAT VOLDEMORT, YES I SAID HIS NAME, VOLDEMORT WAS THE GREATEST PERSON ON THE PLANET, AND YOU WERE NEVER LOVED, ONLY BY YOUR MOTHER. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE THREATENED BY YOUR FATHER THAT YOUR MOTHER, THE ONLY PERSON WHO EVER LOVED YOU WOULD BE HURT, IF YOU WEREN'T A DEATH EATER? WHAT WOULD YOU DO? WOULD **YOU** LET YOUR MOTHER BE HURT, OR ON THE CONTRARY, BECOME A DEATH EATER, JUST FOR HER? HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS TO BE PITIED BY EVERYONE ELSE? HOW DO YOU THINK IT FEELS TO HAVE EVERYONE LOOKING DOWN ON YOU?" Draco shouted, sobbing, sinking into the floor.

Ron was shocked.

**A/N: Did you like it? Please review, follow, favourite, etc. Love you guys!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Here's the next chapter!**

**Getting past past differences… or at least trying to**

"It's okay Draco, don't worry about it… Calm down, you're not the same person as you were before… don't worry… calm down, you're not a death eater anymore… Voldemort is dead… and you've changed… You actually were never a bad person before… You've changed… don't worry." Hermione said, soothingly as Blaise was about to step forward to help calm him down.

Blaise did not appear shocked, but everyone else in the room was. They had never imagined that Lucius Malfoy would… could do such a thing… it was harsh, even for him.

"Blaise… did you know about this?" Luna asked him.

Blaise nodded saying, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all but I felt that it was Draco's decision, he should tell you all when he was ready to."

"No problem."

"Don't worry about it."

"I understand."

There was thunk where Ron had been and they all turned around, to see that Ron had fainted.

"Looks like both the bear and the weasel has fainted. Gin?" Hermione asked, pleadingly.

"Yeah, Harry and I will take him to the Hospital Wing. Don't worry about it." Ginny said reassuringly, as she and Harry levitated Ron out of the door.

"Thanks." Hermione said sighing.

"Looks like things didn't go to plan. Sorry, it should have been a happy event…" Luna trailed off, with Blaise nodding.

"Do you need us to stay… or…" Luna asked.

"Go on, I can deal with this myself." Hermione said.

"Okay, congratulations again." Blaise said as he and Luna walked out the door.

Finally, it was just Hermione and Draco again.

"Draco, are you all right?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Thanks Hermione." Draco said reaching over to hug her.

As soon as his body touched her, she yelped.

"Draco! You're burning hot with a fever! We need to get you to the Hospital Wing right away!" Hermione said worriedly. "Do you think that you can make it there?"

"I'm not sure…" Draco mumbled.

"Here, put your arm around my shoulder." Hermione said, helping him stand up and half carrying, half dragging him to the Hospital Wing.

They walked/dragged/carried in silence for a few minutes, and suddenly, Draco turned around to Hermione and suddenly kissed Hermione.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, and his lips were burning hot, but it somehow… felt right. After a while, she pulled back, saying, "Draco, we need to get to the Hospital Wing… You're really sick."

He seemed to suddenly realize what had just happened and he put his fingers to his lips. "I might be contagious! What did I just do that for? I'm so sorry Hermione, please just take me to the Hospital Wing." He half murmured, half said.

"Okay." Hermione said, chuckling.

"You look better when you laugh. You should do it more often." Draco said as he had once said before.

Hermione blushed once more, and continued to drag Draco to the Hospital Wing.

Once they got there, before Hermione could explain to Madam Pomfrey why he was there, she just shook her head and murmured, "Why are there so many people in the Hospital Wing today?"

"Um… I don't know." Hermione said, stammering.

"OK, _Wingardium Leviosa_." Madam Pomfrey said, lifting Draco onto the bed. "He has a very high temperature… Not good. Not good at all."

"Will he be okay?" Hermione asked, worried.

"Most likely he is like this because of shock and stress… but you can never be too sure. I can not help this. He will need to heal on his own, without any magical help." Madam Pomfrey replied.

Hermione paled. "Could he… possibly die because of this?"

"Most likely, no, but you never know…" Madam Pomfrey said dramatically.

"Thank you." Hermione said to Madam Pomfrey. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You could get a wet towel and put it on his forehead." Madam Pomfrey replied.

"Yes." Hermione said. She got a towel, which she had long since found its location, for she had helped out after the War, tending to the people with injuries.

She poured water over it and swiftly squeezed the water out. Folding it into a proper size, she placed it on Draco's blazing hot forehead.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Ginny's voice asked her.

Hermione spun around, surprised. "Why are you… oh, you're here because of Ron, right? I'm here because Draco got a bad fever… Madam Pomfrey said it's because of stress and shock, and I think it's because of what happened earlier… How's Ron and Pansy?"

"Ron's conscious now, but Pansy isn't. Madam Pomfrey said that they should both stay here for a while. Thank merlin for that. Is Draco going to be okay?" Ginny asked, concerned for her friend's new boyfriend.

"Madam Pomfrey said he should live… but… she said that you never know." Hermione said depressively.

"Don't be disheartened! I'm sure that Draco will be alright. He's just being like this because he has a fragile body." Ginny said reassuringly.

"Can you tell Ron something for me? Tell him, 'I don't want to see your ugly face anywhere near me, or Draco ever again. If you do come near me, then I'll hex your arse to next week. I'm not kidding.' Got it, Gin?" Hermione said.

"Yup." Ginny said.

"Thanks." Hermione said.

"I'll tell him!" Ginny said, walking to the other side of the Hospital Wing.

Hermione stroked Draco's precious hair, and flipped the wet towel. Draco moaned, and flipped around in his unconscious state.

"Stay upright!" Hermione said, flipping Draco again, so the towel would stay on his forehead.

_Even sick, Draco is as sexy as ever. _Hermione thought, smirking.

"Hermione! Is Mal-Draco okay?" Harry's voice interrupted Hermione in her thoughts.

"Maldraco?" Hermione asked, smirking.

"Hermione!" Harry said.

"Fine… I don't know… He has a huge fever right now… Madam Pomfrey said that she can't help… Said that there's a chance that he might… die." Hermione said.

"Oh no… what's going to happen to him?" Harry asked, pacing around.

Hermione smiled. Even in this critical moment, it was sweet to see Harry worrying about one of his enemies. Well, he had saved Draco and Goyle back in the Room of Requirements…

"I don't know… all we can do now is… wait. Can you tell Blaise, Theodore, Goyle and Luna what happened for me Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Sure." Harry said, walking off.

"Don't die on me, Draco." Hermione whispered to Draco. "Ginny! Can you watch Draco until I get back?"

"Sure, but why?" Ginny asked.

"I'm going to get my homework." Hermione said.

Ginny laughed. "Sure, go get your homework!"

"Thanks!" Hermione said rushing off.

Hermione uttered, "Pink Flamingos" to the Fat Lady and rushed to her dorm. She quickly gathered all of her textbooks, homework and quills into her bag, and rushed back to the Hospital Wing as fast as she could.

"I'm back! Thanks for taking care of Draco for me!" Hermione said to Ginny cheerfully.

"What's in that bag? Your bag looks like it's going to explode!" Ginny said.

"Oh, just a few textbooks and some other things." Hermione said.

"That's my girl." A weak voice came from Draco's bed.

"DRACO! You're awake!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, of course I am. Why would I not be?" Draco drawled, smirking.

"You. Idiot. How. Could. You. Make. Me. Worry. So. Much. By. Being. Sick?" Hermione said punching him each time she said a word.

"OW! I'm an injured man here!" Draco said, wincing as she punched him. "Did I really worry you that much?"

"You think? Of course I did!" Hermione said with tears in her eyes.

"Now, now… don't cry. Where's that strong Gryffindor in you?" Draco said, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Madam Pomfrey said you could have died!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm a Mal- I'm Draco, obviously I couldn't die just because of a stupid fever!" Draco said, smirking.

"DRACO!" Blaise burst in, as he and the others burst through the door.

"Yes?" Draco asked, with a smug look on his face.

"Harry said that… you were really sick, and you could have died… Well, you're a Mal- You're Draco, obviously a fever couldn't do that to you…" Blaise finished grinning.

"You know me too well." Draco said smirking.

"My Dracey's sick? Take me to him right now! Why am I here in the Hospital Wing anyway? I just had this horrible nightmare that the mudblood was going out with Draco! You have to take me to him!" They all heard a familiar high pitched voice.

"Everyone, HIDE!" Draco whispered urgently.

Hermione lunged behind a bed with Ginny, Harry quickly ran over to Ron's bed, Theodore and Goyle dove behind another bed and Blaise and Luna cast a disillusion charm on themselves.

"DRACEY! I had this terrible nightmare that-"

"It wasn't a nightmare."

"Yes it was, it was about you and the mudblood-"

"Don't call her mudblood! And it wasn't a nightmare, it actually happened!"

"But… How could that be? You and the mudblood-"

"I said don't call her mudblood! Hermione and I are going out now, it's true! You'll just have to deal with it, Pansy."

"NO! It was a NIGHTMARE! It's not TRUE! It can't BE!"

"Well it is true Pansy."

"NO!" Pansy said, as well as Ron, who had just woken up and overheard the conversation.

"Madam Pomfrey, can you please usher Pansy away from my bed, her screaming is bursting my eardrums!" Draco said to Madam Pomfrey.

"Of course!" Madam Pomfrey said, ushering Pansy away from Draco. "C'mon, get back to your bed!"

And Pansy obliged, screaming as she went.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Funny, is it not? Please review, favourite, follow and PM me. :)**

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**A/N: I really hate Pansy. I try not to, but I do. I'll try to display her in a… better manner though. :P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP, I thought you'd know that the AWESOME and BRILLIANT J.K. Rowling wrote the series. Although I'd LOVE to own it. 1. I'd be rich. 2. I'd have millions of fans. 3. Owning Harry Potter is just awesome. :P**

**The Bonding**

"But Madam Pomfrey, I'm missing so much school! Please, let me get out of here!" Draco whisper-shouted, as he tried not to wake up Hermione. She had been studying with Draco but had fallen asleep on him, with her head sprawled on Draco's lap.

"But, you did almost die, just stay in here until the day after tomorrow, why don't you." Madam Pomfrey said gently.

"Honestly, I like having Hermione lying on me like this, but I can't stand being in the same room as Pansy or the Weasel." Draco said.

"Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey started while Draco winced at the name. "You have to rest your body. Do not strain yourself. And you'll just have to deal with being in the same room as Ms. Parkinson and Mr. Weasley. It's life, you'll just have to learn to deal with them."

"But- Okay, fine… A few more days… But honestly, I worry about Hermione studying in the Hospital Wing with me… SHE'S the one straining herself." Draco said, stroking Hermione's hair.

"OI! Don't touch her!" Ron shouted, half asleep.

"Shhhhhh... She's trying to sleep here." Draco said to Ron. "See what I mean, Madam Pomfrey? Anything I do will provoke him or her to attack me or Hermione. It's really driving me nuts." He said, turning back to Madam Pomfrey.

"Ugh… how long was I asleep for?" Hermione asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Not that long. Don't worry, although your sleeping position did look uncomfortable, you did need the sleep." Draco said to Hermione.

"How are you doing, Draco? Feeling any better?" Hermione asked him, as Ron started to snore once again.

"Yeah. I've been trying to persuade Madam Pomfrey here that I'm healthy enough to get out of here… but it's not working, as you can probably see." Draco said, smirking.

"Draco! You need to rest! You almost died! I mean, I'd love to have you back, but it might push your limits. Just a day or two more, okay?" Hermione said, worried.

Draco sighed. "Fine, anything for you, sweetheart!" He said, smirking.

Madam Pomfrey backed away, muttering, "I mustn't ruin this young love… and house unity love too, at it."

"Please Draco. The one thing I don't like to be called is sweetheart. It was okay… when my dad called me it." Hermione said, smirking back.

"Okay, sugarplum." Draco said, smirking with a wink.

"Sugarplum? Really is that the best that you could think of Draco?" Hermione said laughing.

"So I can call you sugarplum?" Draco asked, wide eyed with innocence.

"No! Call me Hermione!" Hermione said, with mock anger.

"Fine 'Mione." Draco said, throwing his hands up in mock defeat.

"Wait… Draco. If I fell asleep on you… You couldn't have slept much. You need to sleep for now. You're sick and all and I kept you from sleeping. How long was I asleep for exactly?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"You were asleep for about… 4 hours?" Draco said.

"4 HOURS? Why didn't you wake me up?" Hermione asked, outraged.

"Well you looked so darn cute and peaceful sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb you. After all, you're the one studying with me and all, you're getting really tired. And you're even covering all the subjects that we DON'T have together. That's got to be stressful. I just let you sleep in a little." Draco said.

"But- but- C'mon Draco, you should have woken me. Sleep now!" Hermione said haughtily.

Draco laughed at her response. "Aw… but I wanted to spend more time with you, 'Mione." Draco complained.

"You'll be able to do that plenty later, and if you don't sleep, I will leave. Worse, I'll write to your MOTHER." Hermione said.

Draco paled.

"I mean, I didn't mean it like that Draco. Sorry." Hermione said, softening up.

"No- Don't worry about it. Just… don't write to my mother… I could never imagine what she'd lecture me about…" Draco said, shuddering.

Hermione smiled. "Your mother really cares about you, you know that?"

"Yeah… I know. I love her too." Draco said.

_I just love guys who love their parents._ Hermione thought to herself.

"So, are you going to sleep or not?" Hermione asked.

"Well I better, or you might lecture me about how much an average adult should sleep and why." Draco said, smirking.

"Do you WANT me to lecture you? If you do, then don't sleep. If you don't, I suggest that you do sleep." Hermione said, smiling.

"I better sleep then." Draco said.

"You better. Or else." Hermione threatened.

"Or else what?" Draco asked, smirking once again.

"I'll hex you!" Hermione said. "You know… you look a lot better now that you only smirk and smile, and not sneer. Why does everything to do with face expressions have to start with S's?" Hermione pondered.

"Trust me… I do sneer sometimes. Just not at such a pretty face like yours. And you're right, smirk, smile and sneer. All S's. I wonder why." Draco said, smirking.

"Hey Drake! You're still sick?" Blaise's said, from behind Hermione.

Hermione raised her eyebrow at the nickname.

"I'm not sick anymore, but Hermione and Madam Pomfrey are insisting that I stay in the Hospital Wing and rest until the day after tomorrow. And please don't call me Drake." Draco said, smirking.

"Aren't you tired, Hermione? You really should get some sleep." Luna said softly, appearing out of nowhere beside Hermione.

Hermione jumped. "Where did you come from, Luna?"

"She was with me the whole time!" Blaise answered instead of Luna.

"Really? I didn't notice her either. She just appeared out of nowhere!" Draco said.

"Hey Draco, don't you really need to sleep? You look tired, man." Theodore said, walking through the Hospital Wing to Draco's bed.

"Come to think of it, he does look tired. And he NEEDS to sleep!" Hermione said.

"What? Are you saying that my beautiful eyes are looking tired? NO! The things that life can do to you…" Draco said shaking his head in mock terror.

They all laughed.

"Hey Draco, Hermione needs to sleep too. Doesn't SHE look tired? And I'm betting that she wants to sleep in a comfortable bed in her dorm. And you should sleep too. Anyway, how are you feeling?" Ginny asked, she and Harry both walking towards them.

"Where are all of you coming from? And you've got such bloody good timing. How are all of you coming at once? Did you lot plan this?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

"And that's our secret." Goyle said, mischievously.

"'Mione, don't you think something weird is going on?" Draco asked to Hermione.

"Yeah…" Hermione replied.

"Anyway, we girls are going to usher Hermione to her dorm to sleep, it's what, 8 o'clock but she looks oh so tired. And you guys are going to bond together down here, because Draco doesn't look like he wants to sleep." Ginny said.

"He needs sleep though!" Hermione said.

"Just go Hermione!" Draco said.

"You guys are so protective of each other. It's so cute!" Luna said, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"I know right?" Ginny said, squealing. **(A/N: Icy Koala Raspberry! Sorry, inside joke. Review if you get it, or at least think you do. :P)**

"Let's go!" Luna said, getting one of Hermione's arms.

Ginny grabbed Hermione's other arm and they both dragged her up to the Fat Lady.

"Bye Luna! Sleep well!" Ginny and Hermione said.

"Bye, see you tomorrow morning!" Luna replied as she walked off.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Laughing Unicorns." Hermione said to the Fat Lady and the Fat Lady swung open, and the two girls walked through.

However, back in the Hospital Wing…

"So, are you treating Hermione well?" Harry asked as soon as the girls were out of earshot.

"Yeah… She seems happy. And she's so damn cute and peaceful when she's sleeping." Draco said, smirking.

"You know, that just sounds really wrong?" Blaise asked.

It does." Theodore said.

"Yeah." Goyle said.

"I have to agree with you lot on this one." Harry said, grinning.

"Why are you all against me? I feel like a… a FERRET that's backed into a corner." Draco said grinning.

"Wow. Draco, are you getting past our past differences and making fun of yourself?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he is. Never thought that this would come." Goyle said with mock shock.

"Harry, he got pat that a long time ago, if you hadn't realized." Theodore said.

"How do you think he loves Hermione so much, and stands that stupid Weasel… No offence of course." Blaise said, quickly.

"Hello… You do know that I'm here right now as you're speaking of me. And yes Harry, I got over it. I just… hope that you'll consider me as your friend and forgive me for everything I've done… I know I've been a bastard before. I regret it. You're a really likeable person, and I hope we can be friends." Draco said sincerely.

"Of course, Draco! As long as you… I don't know, just act like you are now and never hurt Hermione, then I'm fine." Harry said.

"I would never hurt Hermione. Thanks for forgiving me… Even after all the terrible things that I did." Draco said, looking down.

"No problem. Everyone deserves a second chance. It's not your fault that you were born as a Malfoy. Don't worry about it." Harry said.

"Aww…. You guys finally bonded!" Blaise said.

"Shut up!" Harry and Draco both said at once.

**A/N: Did you like it? More BROMANCE! :P And second chances. Oh, by the way, I have this poll up in my profile, about who's your favourite HP paring… Please check it out, if you haven't already. :)**

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**A/N: So now I finally updated! :) I got a new USB and I learned my lesson! Thank you everyone for the reviews and suggestions for my story!**

**Quidditch Plans**

"Hey Draco! Professor McGonagall wants us to hurry up and start the House-Unity Project. I completely forgot about that." Hermione called over to Draco in the Great Hall.

"Yeah… hey I'll eat fast, and let's go over to the library to plan." Draco replied.

"Sure, I'm almost done anyway." Hermione said, walking back to the Gryffindor table. She ate the rest of her food, gathered all of her things and hurried over to Draco to see if he was ready.

"You ready?" Hermione asked.

"Yup, just done eating." Draco said, wiping his mouth on a napkin.

"Let's go then!" Hermione said cheerfully as Draco got up and gathered his things.

They started walking out of the Great Hall to the library.

"So, I was thinking, it should be only for Year Seven and Year Eight's, because we can't have too much people in it, and we want everyone to participate." Draco said.

"Wait… everyone?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"Yup. And also-" Draco began.

"But I can't fly! It's the one thing that I can't do…" Hermione said.

"And that's why practice makes perfect!" Draco said, smiling broadly, opening the door to the library for her.

"But- but… what if the whole team is terrible, and it won't be very fun then." Hermione said, thinking of an excuse.

"Well, we'll sort the teams out fairly. How many teams shall there be anyway?" Draco asked.

"Let's just do 4, as normal." Hermione replied.

"So, we'll start off the captains of each house team to be the captains of each team, and then we'll start choosing equal teams." Draco said.

"Gosh… I need to write this all down. Here, let's sit here." Hermione said, gesturing to her favourite spot in the library.

"So, let's get this straight. There will be 4 teams, and the captains of each house team will be the captains of each team. All Year 7 and Year 8 students must participate, and no complaining." Draco said, with Hermione furiously scribbling everything down.

"Oh, and how about, since there are more players, we can do subbing in and out." Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Draco said.

"And… that's about it, right? Other then the fact that we'll be choosing the teams…" Hermione finished up.

"Yeah. So let's just start choosing the teams now." Draco said.

And the two of them were in the library for an hour, making fair teams.

"And you'll be on my team." Draco finished.

"That's good." Hermione said, smiling.

Draco yawned as he got up and stretched his arms.

"I feel accomplished. We got a lot done." Hermione said, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, we did." Draco said, smirking.

**A/N: So that's it. I hope you enjoyed, I know it was short, sorry… I just really wanted to get a chapter up… Anyway, R&R, F&F and PM me! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hope you enjoy! :)**

**The Surprise**

Hermione was in a bad mood. The Quidditch Tournament was not going to be successful, it appeared.

"We're doing a house-unity Quidditch tournament?"

"No way… so there will be Slytherin's on our team?"

"Ew… I don't want to have any on our team… They'll ruin everything…"

"Hey! Listen up people! We ARE going to do it, and ALL Year Seven and Eight Students MUST participate." Draco's voice rang throughout the hallways.

"Isn't he that Death Eater? Why's HE still going to school with us?"

"Yeah, he was that guy who killed Professor Dumbledore!"

"He's Slytherin, right?"

"Shut it. He's changed, you know." Harry shouted over the whispering, which caused everyone to be shocked.

Draco MALFOY and Harry POTTER… FRIENDS?

"Thanks, Harry." Draco said.

"Anytime, man, anytime." Harry replied.

"You two really have bonded, haven't you?" Hermione said, her mood brightening up quite considerably.

"This is quite brilliant! Who came up with it? Hermione?" Harry asked.

"No, actually it was Draco who came up with it. Draco may be smart-ass when he feels like it, but he's actually quite intelligent. But, of course, how would we have known that back in the time when we were enemies?" Hermione asked, beaming at the compliment to Draco.

"Thanks, 'Mione. Um… I think I heard that Pansy and Ron are getting released today. I don't know why they've been in the Hospital Wing so long though… I'm kind of scared of their wrath, aren't you all?" Draco asked.

"Um… yes… I am… I haven't seen Ron in quite a bit…" Hermione said nervously, fiddling with her fingers.

"Oh shoot… I forgot about that." Harry said, cursing under his breath.

"Hey, you cheerful looking lot! Ron's getting out right now! Come, quick! I don't want to face his wrath alone!" Ginny said, running towards them.

"Oh the irony…" Draco said under his breath.

"How about Pansy?" Hermione asked, paling.

"She is too. I don't know why they're both getting out at the same time seeing as they hate each other…" Ginny said. "Anyway, let's HURRY!"

They all rushed towards the Hospital Wing, scared half to death.

"So… Pansy… will you go out with me this Hogsmeade weekend?" They heard a very familiar voice asking.

Everyone stopped in their tracks.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Pansy said, squealing.

Hermione tiptoed and turned her head around the corner to see Pansy with her legs and arms wrapped around Ron, snogging him.

Hermione turned around slowly and mouthed, "Oh my god."

Draco, Harry and Ginny couldn't hold back anymore, they rushed past the corner and their jaws dropped when they saw Ron and Pansy snogging.

"Oh my god." Ginny said aloud, shocked.

Pansy dropped to the ground from Ron, and said, "Oopsies…" shyly.

"Hey, congrats mate!" Harry said to Ron, breaking the awkward silence.

"Thanks! Hermione, F-Malfoy, thanks for getting together. Thanks to both of you, I got this wonderful, beautiful and brilliant girl here." Ron said, gesturing to Pansy.

"Aw… you're soooo sweet, Ron." Pansy said, squealing once again.

Draco and Hermione both grimaced as Pansy skipped over to Ron and snogged him once again.

"Well, looks like we're not needed here." Ginny said coolly as she walked away, with everyone else close behind.

As soon as Ron and Pansy were out of earshot, they all started talking excitedly.

"Oh my god, they're together! PANSY and RON are together!" Ginny said, eyes wide from shock.

"I know… for some reason… I'm REALLY happy for them! I'm happy for PANSY and RON!" Draco said, moving his hands wildly excitedly.

"I'm not going crazy, right? You guys all saw it too?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. Most definitely. Wow." Harry said, at a loss for words.

They saw Blaise and Luna walking together, and they rushed to talk to them.

"OMG Luna, Blaise, we just saw Ron and Pansy-"

"-And they were SNOGGING-"

"-And apparently, they're going out now!"

"Pansy and Ron!" They all said, excitedly.

"Wait what? Slow down!" Blaise said.

"OK… So… We saw Ron and Pansy… they were snogging… and apparently they're going out now… PANSY AND RON!" Hermione said slower, bursting out at the end.

"WHAT? Are you SURE?" Luna asked, bewildered.

"Yes, DEFINITELY!" Harry said, excitedly.

"Wow… what a surprise! I'd never expect… for the two of them… THOSE TWO of all people…" Blaise said.

"EXACTLY!" Draco said.

"Should I go and rant to Ron and make him know how I felt when I started dating Dean and he was freaking out?" Ginny asked.

"No. Don't. Or actually… maybe you should." Hermione said, grinning.

"I'll go do that. Harry you want to come with me?" Ginny asked.

"Um… no. Just… no." Harry said.

**A/N: Hope you liked this chapter, I'm back on the writing streak! :) R&R and F&F! :P**

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**A/N: Okay, here's the update you've all been waiting for! :P**

**Quidditch Practice**

A lot of time had passed by. The announcements for the Quidditch teams had been put up, and everyone's reactions were not as bad as Hermione had thought them to be. Hermione had been very nervous for their first practice. And here it finally was.

"So… um… hey everybody! I know you lot… probably don't like me very much…" Draco trailed off.

"You think?" Someone shouted in the background.

"Obviously! Who would like you?" Another person shouted.

"Why are you even captain?" Someone asked.

Hermione felt a rage building up. She HATED it when people interrupted others. "SHUT IT!" She roared.

It was silent once again.

"Thanks, 'Mione. Anyway, I hope we can all get along, and you'll all forgive me for my stupid and foolish mistakes in the past." Draco said.

It was silent. No one had been expecting such an outburst from Draco.

"Now, let's get on with practice. We want to win this thing, don't we?" Draco asked.

"Yes…" A few people murmured.

"I didn't hear you!" Draco said.

"YES!" Hermione shouted, with others joining in.

"What was that?" Draco asked, once more.

"YES!" Everyone on the team roared.

"That's good. So, I want everyone to divide into what they want to be… Keepers go here, Chasers go here, Beaters go here, and Seekers go here." Draco said.

Everyone looked at him strangely when he said Seeker.

"I know, I know, I'm Seeker and the captain. But if someone's better than me, then they should be in my position, right? Anyway, if I get tired, we want to sub me out." Draco said.

"Subs?"

"We're doing substitutes?"

"That's good, if someone gets hurt…"

"Anyway, get into your line of what you want to be! Keepers here, Chasers here, Beaters here, and Seekers here. " Draco repeated. "Oh, and get your brooms."

Hermione was thinking hard. What should she be?

"What are you going to choose?" Draco said coming up behind her suddenly.

Hermione jumped up in shock.

"WHOA! Don't do, Draco, you're going to give me a heart attack out of shock!" Hermione said.

"Whatever you want, sweetie." Draco said, winking.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me sweetie?" Hermione asked, playfully punching him in the shoulder.

"Ow! That actually hurt!" Draco said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Well, you better get used to it. What do you think I should be? I hate flying!" Hermione said in a whiny voice.

"You might hate it and think you're not good at it, but I know that's not the truth. Remember in the War, in the Room of Requirements when you guys turned back and save me and… Goyle? You flew pretty darn well there." Draco said.

"Yeah but that was a life and death situation!" Hermione complained.

"Then pretend you are in and life and death situation and go for the Snitch!" Draco said, walking away to see how the others were doing.

"Snitch? So… Seeker it is." Hermione said, grabbing a broom and walking towards the Seeker line… space. There was no line for the Seekers. No one was in line for the Seeker position!

"Ms. Hermione Granger? Let's see what you can do, and how fast you can get this. I'll let the Snitch go and a minute later, you have to go and find it, got it?" Draco said in a professional voice.

"Yes, I understand." Hermione said, taking her role.

"Okay then, I'm releasing it now. I will tell you when to go and look for it." Draco said.

Hermione's eyes followed the Snitch and suddenly, Draco said, "NOW!" and she was off.

_I'm in a life and death situation, and the Golden Snitch is a… Portkey that takes me out of this hell._ Hermione thought as she zoomed off.

Hermione's eye caught a golden glint, and she zoomed after it right when she reached out to grab it-

"CRUCIO!" A familiar voice bellowed.

Hermione screamed as she fell from her broom and it was silent, everyone was just staring at her in shock.

"Hermione!" Draco shouted as he hopped onto his broom and dove towards her to catch her.

He caught her just in time, and she was shivering in fear and pain. As soon as he caught her, she grabbed onto him and squeezed him tightly.

Draco spun around to see who had attacked Hermione… to see… Lucius Malfoy.

**A/N: So, hope you liked this chapter that I finally updated! :) Suspenseful, isn't it? What's going to happen next, I wonder? :P I'll try to update the next chapter soon! :D R&R, F&F and PM, since whenever you do, it makes me more inspired to post the next chapter! :3**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Here we go! Sorry for Draco and the Philosopher's Stone's slow update, but… I don't know I have a big writer's block on that… And here's the update that I was promising you all….**

**Just a Warning**

"Father!" Draco said in shock as he flew to the ground.

"Get away from the mudblood, Draco. I do NOT want to see you with her again! Get away from her, and you will be spared." Lucius said viciously.

"No!" Draco shouted, as he stepped in front of Hermione protectively.

"She's a MUDBLOOD for merlin's sake! Get away from her! This is your last chance!" Lucius Malfoy bellowed.

"No! And don't call her a mudblood, fa-" Draco started.

"DON'T CALL ME YOUR FATHER! You do NOT deserve me as your father! CRUCIO!" Lucius Malfoy screamed as he waved his wand at Draco.

Draco screamed, and crumpled to the ground.

"That is enough! STUPEFY!" A voice boomed across the Quidditch field.

Hermione lifted her head in pain to see Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Lucius Malfoy defended himself with ease, as Aurors surrounded him, some ushering the rest of the students away from the Quidditch field.

"This is just a warning. Next time, it'll be worse." Lucius Malfoy hissed as he apparated away.

"Ms. Granger! Mr. Malfoy! Are you alright?" Professor McGonagall came as she rushed towards them.

"Professor!" Hermione said as she got up and collapsed once more.

"Hermione, are you alright?" Draco asked, worried.

"There is no time for this now, we must get you to the Hospital Wing, fast." Professor McGonagall said.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Kingsley said as he levitated them away.

"Is Hermione okay? Tell me, is Hermione okay?"

Hermione woke up to aching pain and loud, worried voices.

"Ssh… Our patients need rest. Peace and quiet, or you'll all be chased out!" Madam Pomfrey said.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, wincing as she tried to sit up.

"You… don't remember?" Ginny asked, worried.

"No, no. I remember… but… what happened after that? And… did they find… him?" Hermione said, not referring to Lucius Malfoy's name.

"No. They tried to find out, really they did. But… they couldn't find him. Sorry, Hermione." Harry said, looking down.

"How about Draco, is he alright?" Hermione asked, worriedly looking around.

"He… asked to be put somewhere else." Luna said. "Blaise is with him right now."

"But… why?" Hermione asked, hurt.

"Well… to what I heard, I think it's because… well you know, Lucius Malfoy hurt you because Draco was hanging out with you. And… I think Draco thinks that it's all his fault that you got hurt." Harry said.

"But… He didn't… It's not his… fault." Hermione said, trailing off. "I need to go and talk to him!" Hermione said with a determined look.

She tried to get out of bed but as soon as she did, she felt dizzy and her surroundings swayed.

"Hermione!" Everyone shouted.

But it wasn't them who saved her from falling. It was Draco.

"Draco! Thanks…" Hermione trailed off, turning to look at him by sitting on her bed.

Draco looked away.

"DRACO MALFOY! You look at me right now, you got me?" Hermione said furiously.

Draco looked at her.

"It's not your fault that I got hurt! It's as much as my fault as yours! Stop being such a Draco! You don't have to hold everything up yourself! I'm here for you. Don't worry… I want to be around you!" Hermione said to him.

"But… but… I'm nothing but trouble for you! For everyone! Whenever I try to be around other people… they get hurt! Everyone I love gets hurt! I can't let anyone else I love get hurt!" Draco said.

"Draco. I don't care if I get hurt. As long as I'm with you!" Hermione said.

"Draco… that goes with all of us as well. We know you're a great person… and we want to be around you!" Harry said.

"But-" Draco started.

"No buts!" Hermione said.

"But-" Draco tried again.

"No buts!" Everyone shouted.

"B-Fine! If you all… insist." Draco said.

"Yup, we're all insisting!" Hermione said, smirking.

"Anyway… um… Hermione? Since… now I can talk to you again… Will you go out with me to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Draco asked, nervously.

"Yeah, well obviously! We're a couple, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah!" Draco said, now grinning.

"Aw…" Everyone said.

"Shut it!" Hermione and Draco both said at once.

**A/N: Yeah buddy! Got this new chapter done in twenty minutes! WOOHOO! R&R, F&F and PM! :) Also, if this isn't too of a bother to you, and you have lots of time, then can you check out my friends, bonniebonbon, chocolatelover0506 and Xby? Thanks! Love you guys! :D**

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**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated… I've been really with homework… :( Anyway, here's my new chapter! This chapter was really hard to write… because I'm not very good at fashion and all that… and I was thinking of putting something involved like deciding what to wear… but I guess not.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Well anything you don't recognize, I DO own, but other than that… no. I'm so jealous of JK Rowling… I wish I was her… :(**

**Planning for the Date**

Everything had been perfectly planned. It would be a triple date-Blaise and Luna, Harry and Ginny, and Draco and Hermione. Hermione was so excited.

"Ginny, wake up! Ginny, wake up! Today's the date! We have to get ready!" Hermione said, shaking Ginny.

"Mmph… Five more minutes, mum." Ginny murmured.

"GINNY WEASLEY! IT'S OUR DATES TODAY! GET UP RIGHT NOW!" Hermione shouted.

"Okay, okay, chill!" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes.

"We need to get ready!" Hermione said excitedly.

"Okay. Just let me grab a coffee downstairs from the kitchen, okay?" Ginny asked.

"Fine. Get me one too, please!" Hermione said. "I'll get Luna. If she's awake. Which I really hope she is."

Luna was a sleeper. She loved her sleep. You did _not_ want to be the one waking her up. Hermione crossed her fingers and hoped that Luna was up, not only was their dates in a couple of hours, but she didn't want to be hexed today.

Hermione walked through the halls toward the Ravenclaw common rooms.

"Hey Hermione! Are you excited?" Luna asked, looking cheerful.

"Luna! Thank Merlin you're awake! I thought you'd be sleeping…" Hermione said sheepishly.

"How could I? I love going out on dates with Blaise! Let's go to your dorm and choose out some clothes! Here, I have some in this bag." Luna said.

Now that Hermione was closer, she could see that Luna was wearing skinny jeans and a t-shirt that showed her shoulder, under her robe. She had a handbag, that didn't look like it could hold much, but with magic, anything was possible.

"Okay… anyway, answering your question from before, yes I am excited. And nervous. This is our first date!" Hermione said.

"Well me and Blaise have gone on plenty… since we've been dating since summer. Did I ever tell you the story of how we met together?" Luna asked.

"No, tell me!" Hermione said, ignoring Luna's grammar mistake for once.

"So, as you know I really had changed after Professor Snape had turned into Headmaster… I stood up to the evil Death Eaters a bit, and I got sense knocked into me… and…" Luna began.

_It was a sunny day. Luna was smiling. The war was over and everything was at peace. Luna was shopping at Diagon Alley for her new things for her eight year at Hogwarts._

"_Oi! You go to Hogwarts, right?" A voice came._

_Luna spun around. "Zabini?" She asked, surprised._

"_C'mon, you can call me Blaise, can't you? After all… now that… the war is over and all… can we… be friends?" Blaise asked, softly._

"_Um… sure…" Luna said awkwardly._

"_Brilliant!" Blaise said cheerfully. "Hey, you're actually really pretty, you know?" He said, studying her closely._

"_Actually? What do you mean by that?" Luna asked huffily, offended._

"_Well, I never really thought of you as a person like that. We didn't even know each other that well though… Anyway, it's good to see you!" Blaise said._

"_Yeah… um it was good to see you too!" Luna said._

_Blaise was a rather good looking guy. But… he was a SLYTHERIN! Luna. Luna. Don't be so… discriminating… remember back in elementary school? When those kids would bully you for being American? And you worked so hard to get a proper British accent… That's just what Blaise is doing! He wants to fit in, just like you did._

"_Hey, you want to go out sometime?" Blaise asked suddenly, interrupting Luna from her train of thought._

"_Wait what?" Luna asked._

"_I asked you if you wanted to go out with me sometime." Blaise said, shooting that brilliant smile of his._

"_Um, I- I d-don't know…" Luna said stuttering._

"_It's your choice. You don't have to if you don't want to. It's a free country." Blaise said, shrugging._

"_Sure! I'll go with you!" Luna said suddenly, with her heart beating fast. She couldn't waste a chance like this. Maybe Blaise had changed. To tell the truth, Luna wasn't sure Blaise was ever a bad person._

"_Okay then… how about next weekend? On Saturday, 12:00 for lunch? We'll meet here." Blaise said._

"_Sure, I'm free." Luna said, trying to sound nonchalant, but in reality she was as nervous as ever._

"_Hey, I didn't catch your name." Blaise said._

_Luna, are you sure you should go out with this guy? He doesn't even know your name, and he might just be going out with you for you looks…_

"_That's because I didn't throw it." Luna said, laughing. "It's Luna. Luna Lovegood."_

"_Now that is a beautiful name. But I'd love to change it. Luna Zabini sounds better don't you think?" Blaise said, winking._

_Luna blushed._

"_Anyway, see you there." Luna said rushing off. The rapid beating of her heart slowed down._

"And Hermione? That's how we planned our first date." Luna ended.

"Really? Aw… Blaise is so romantic!" Hermione said, laughing.

"He is." Luna said.

"Oh, we're here. Orange Lollipops!" Hermione said to the Fat Lady, and the portrait flipped open. "Let's go in!"

Luna and Hermione walked in to Hermione's dorm, to see Ginny already in there with a coffee mug in her hand, and two others on the desk.

"Ooh! Coffee! Thanks, Gin!" Luna and Hermione said reaching for the mugs of coffee.

"So… what took you so long?" Ginny asked, curiously.

"Luna was telling me about her first date." Hermione said, smiling.

"Really? Tell me! Actually, don't. Guess who I met in the kitchen today?" Ginny asked.

"Who?" Luna and Hermione both asked.

"Blaise!" Ginny said.

"But never mind that, we really need to get ready for our dates!" Ginny said.

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**A/N: Enjoy!**

**Getting Ready for the Date, Draco's POV**

"Blaise wake up! Wake up!" Draco said shaking Blaise awake.

Blaise punched Draco in the stomach. Draco winced.

"And I thought there might be a chance that you might not punch me because it's my date soon! My first date with Hermione!" Draco practically shouted.

"Urgh…" Blaise grumbled as he got up.

"Finally. Say sorry!" Draco said, pretending to be upset.

"Sorry about what?" Blaise asked.

"What, you don't remember punching me in the stomach when I tried to wake you up?" Draco asked, bewildered.

"I punched you? You should know better… I always punch whoever is trying to wake me up." Blaise said groaning.

"It's our date today! You go and get coffee for the three of us in the kitchen, and I'll go and get Harry, okay?" Draco asked.

"You sure are organized." Blaise mumbled.

"Shut it. Okay, I'll be off!" Draco said, as he walked out of their dorm and towards the Gryffindor common room.

Draco hadn't known where the Gryffindor common room was, but Harry had told him some time ago.

"Hey Harry!" Draco called to Harry.

"Yo Draco! What's up?" Harry replied.

"What's up? Our triple date's what's up. Are you excited for our triple date?" Draco asked.

"Well, sure I am. Probably not as excited as you are though." Harry said, grinning.

"Well… yeah. It is me and Hermione's first date as a couple… so… hey, what happened on your first date with Ginny?" Draco asked, curiously.

"Well… so when I finally got the nerve to ask Ron if it was okay… and when he finally agreed… I then asked Ginny out…" Harry began.

_It was a sunny day. Summer was almost over and Harry was at The Burrow. He had finally mustered up the courage to ask Ron once again if he could go out with Ginny. What kind of Gryffindor was he? Well… the fact that Ron had punched him- hard the last… hm… let's see, ten times was it, probably had some reason for that._

"_Um… Ginny? Can we talk?" Harry finally asked after he tapped Ginny on the shoulder._

"_Sure!" Ginny said brightly._

_After the War, things had been awkward around them. They had kissed… and Ron had went a little crazy after he found out. But, things were good again, now that Harry had FINALLY gotten Ron's permission._

"_Um… will you be my girlfriend?" Harry asked._

"_YES! YESYESYES!" Ginny said. "I honestly do NOT care about what Ron thinks anymore, he does not have ANY control over me whatsoever."_

"_About that… I got Ron's permission too." Harry said, grinning._

"_Wow, you sure are pretty brilliant to get RON to agree with the two of us going out…" Ginny mumbled._

"_So… do you want to go to Diagon Alley with me to get all our things? And we can go and get lunch and ice cream after." Harry said._

_Ginny looked kind of disappointed, but being the dull headed person that Harry was, he didn't realize. Now, looking back, Harry knew that she was a little disappointed that their first date was a trip to… Diagon Alley._

"Seriously dude? You're not supposed to ask a girl out to Diagon Alley for her first date with you!" Draco said, shaking his head.

"Hey, you're not any better okay? You asked Hermione out to Hogsmeade for her first date with you." Harry said defending himself.

"Hogsmeade's better than Diagon Alley. Who takes a girl out on a date to Diagon Alley? You should have asked her out to a Quidditch match, seeing as you two are obsessed with it…" Draco said.

"Hey, I'm not made out of money!" Harry said. "Money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

"What is money made out of?" Draco demanded.

"Metal…" Harry said.

"Shit!" Draco said.

"What?" Harry demanded.

"That's not how the joke's supposed to go! You're supposed to say paper, you know because Muggle money is made out of paper… and then I say what's paper made out of… and paper's made out of trees so technically it is money grown from trees… but Wizard money isn't like that… Am I boring you?" Draco asked at the funny expression on Harry's face.

"No… but how would you know that joke?" Harry asked.

"Oh… I lived with Muggles for a while… you know in the summer. So I learned a thing or two…" Draco mumbled.

"And how did I not know this before?" Harry demanded.

"Oh… well I don't know… you never asked. It never came up…" Draco said. "Anyway, we're here."

"Password?" A new portrait asked.

"I am awesome." Draco said, smirking.

"Why do I have a feeling that you are the one that made the password?" Harry asked.

"Hey, it helps build self esteem you know!" Draco said.

"What took you two so long?" Blaise asked, bored.

"Oh, Harry was sleeping." Draco said, smirking.

"I was NOT! I was just telling Draco how Ginny and I met!" Harry said.

"Here's your coffee." Blaise said, handing the two of them coffee. "I saw Ginny in the kitchen… she was getting three mugs of coffee too… I wonder why?"

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed people! :) Review, follow and favourite, you know how much I love you doing it! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: The date is here! There's going to be something scary this chapter, I felt I needed some action and less… mushy things. :D**

**The Date and Other Scary Things**

"You girls ready?" Ginny asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be!" Hermione said cheerfully.

"You got that right!" Luna said with that dreamy voice of hers.

"Let's show the guys how we look and leave them shocked!" Hermione said.

"YEAH!" Ginny and Luna said. "Even if we don't look THAT good…" Ginny mumbled.

"Anyways, you ready boys?" Ginny called from their dormitory.

The boys had come to pick them up. And they WOULD be astounded.

"As ready as we'll ever be!" The guys called, mimicking what the girls had said before.

The girls opened the door and walked through. And the boy's jaws did drop. And it stayed there for a while.

"Hermione… You look…"

"Wow… Gin…"

"Luna… Just…"

And the girls laughed.

"So… are you boys going to just stand there all silent and all or are we going to get going?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah… weren't we planning to go to Hogsmeade… not just break our jaws…" Ginny said grinning.

"Hm… oh look at the time! I think we have to go now, don't you all think?" Luna asked, smiling widely.

Blaise was the first to make a recovery. "Wow do you women look beautiful today. Now are we going or what?"

"We are, aren't we?" Draco said, lifting his jaw.

"Yeah, let's get a move on!" Harry said, grinning.

And so the six of them were off.

Ten minutes later…

They had finally all been checked to go to Hogsmeade, all now old enough to go without permission slips.

"Where should we go first?" Hermione asked them all.

"We go where the girls go." Blaise said with a straight face.

"Seriously, Blaise." Luna said laughing.

"I am serious. When am I not?" Blaise asked.

"Um… let me see…" Draco said, pretending to think. "Always?"

"How can you say something like that? I am sooo offended right now. And I thought that you were my friend…" Blaise said in a girly voice.

They all laughed.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm your friend." Draco said, smirking.

"And vice versa." Blaise said, winking at him.

"Let's eat lunch at Madam Pudifoot's!" Harry said.

Everyone groaned.

"Please don't say that you're one of those Madam Pudifoot enjoyers… How can someone possibly eat there?" Draco asked.

"I don't know… anyway I'm Harry-BLOODY-Potter, so I can't die. Just try not to die for this date, okay? Besides, I heard that they made a few fixes there. Maybe it's for the better?" Harry asked, grinning.

They all laughed.

"Just for your sake then." Ginny said, smiling.

"We're too nice…" Luna muttered.

They walked towards Madam Pudifoot's shop when suddenly…

"Petrificus Totalus!" A voice from the air shouted, with the spell directed at Ginny but Harry quickly stepped in front of her protectively and took the blast.

"Harry!" They all shouted and they all drew their wands quickly.

They looked up to see Lucius Malfoy's face.

Draco stepped in front of Hermione.

"What do you want from us?" Draco asked.

"I warned you before Draco, and you didn't understand, clearly. This is your punishment for being around that Mudblood and the Blood traitor's family. Not to mention Potter. Zabini's not much better either!" Lucius Malfoy said sneering.

"Blaise, Luna, you two go protect the younger students. Ginny, protect Harry." Draco said quickly.

"Okay… be careful!" Blaise said running off to usher other students away from the action.

Luna went the other way while Ginny dragged Harry out of danger's way.

"Hermione-" Draco began.

"Too late, SON." Lucius Malfoy's voice said from behind him.

"Drac-" Hermione's voice came and was cut off.

Draco spinned around quickly with his wand raised… to see… space.

**A/N: Was that chapter not awesome? Review, favourite and follow!**

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**A/N: Were you guys excited for this chapter? I hope you were… Anyways, here it is! :)**

**To Paris**

"Drac-" Hermione shouted, feeling a presence behind her, but a hand clamped around her mouth with a wet piece of cloth that smelled sickly sweet… and everything went black.

Draco was going crazy. Hermione was gone. Hermione… where was she… where was she…

"Draco, dude! SNAP OUT OF IT! We need you to tell us what happened to Hermione! DRACO!" A voice said, snapping him out of his daze.

"Hermione… my father… he took her somewhere." Draco said, shocked.

"Shit!" Harry said, along with some other not so pleasant swears.

"We need to go after her." Draco said quickly, in a mad haze.

"No duh we have to go after her… Where could he have taken her? Draco, where could he have took her? Draco, you're our best hope. DRACO, WHERE COULD YOUR FATHER HAVE TOOK HERMIONE?" Harry asked, crying.

"Malfoy Manor… But mother's there… Nonono… Mother's going to get hurt. We need to get there fast…" Draco said.

"Draco! Harry! Where's Hermione?" Blaise asked, running up to them with Ginny and Luna following him. It looked like after Ginny had pulled Harry to safety, she had gone to protect the others.

"Hermione… we have to go after her!" Draco said exasperatedly.

"Hermione's… hurt?" Ginny said, stopping in mid-run.

"Seriously? No way…" Luna said dazed.

"WE NEED TO GO! WE NEED TO GO AFTER HER! SNAP OUT OF IT PEOPLE! MALFOY MANOR!" Draco practically screamed.

"I didn't learn how to apparate yet…" Ginny said, her face turning to a chalk white.

"Ginny, you stay here then… its better anyway, you'll be safe. Go run, tell Professor McGonagall, NOW!" Harry shouted, and Ginny began to run back to Hogwarts.

"You too, Luna." Blaise said.

"No, I'm going with you." Luna said firmly. "This is my FRIEND we're talking about! HERMIONE! We have to go! NOW!"

"Stop arguing. Let's just go, fast." Draco said.

And with that, Draco apparated away.

Draco quickly ran forward and burst into Malfoy Manor.

"Mother!" He shouted.

"Is that you, Draco?" Narcissa asked, shocked.

"Is father here?" Draco asked.

"Father? No… did he… go back to Hogwarts? Again? Did he take? Hermione? Nonono…" Narcissa said, reading Draco's expression.

Draco was lucky Narcissa was always so fast on the uptake and could guess things very well.

"Where could he have gone, mother? Any place? Mother please…" Draco said.

"Yes of course… where we had our honeymoon, he used to go back there… he wasn't always a bad person you know… he just kind of went crazy after V-Voldemort recruited him. It's in France, Paris. Here, I'll go with you!" Narcissa said wringing her hands.

"Mother calm down. Let's go, I'll side apparate with you." Draco said. "We need to go, fast. Here, I'll write a note for the others."

Draco quickly scribbled down a note to the others and cast a spell on it so only they could see it, and taped it onto Malfoy Manor's front gate.

"Let's go." Draco said.

"Of course." Narcissa said as she got her wand out, just in case.

Then they were off to Paris.

Five minutes after…

"Where is Draco? Oh my God, I'm going crazy!" Harry said.

"Calm down, Harry. Look, there's a note for us." Blaise said quickly, pointing at the front gate.

"Let me read it… Dear Luna, Blaise and Harry." Luna began. "Mother and I have gone to look for Hermione and my father. We are going to Paris, someplace that my mother knew that my father might be. You three, go back to Hogwarts and get some more help before coming to Paris. Wish me luck."

"No. Draco did not just leave without us." Harry said.

"Harry, you have to try and understand… Draco had to go as fast as he could… and we were late because of that one crying kid, remember? It wasn't his fault…" Blaise said.

"Bloody hell! Of course it was his fault! He could have let us go with him, me and Luna are both really good fighters, we have experience from the War and back in the Department of Mysteries… But no, and don't you try to defend him, ZABINI, I don't want to hear your excuses." Harry burst out.

"Harry… I know that you're really upset because of Hermione…" Luna began.

"Blood hell I am!" Harry shouted.

"But… Draco did what he thought was right, and if I was him I'd have done the same. And I'm sure you'd have too." Luna said quietly.

"… Okay. You're right, I know you are." Harry said.

"I know how you're feeling right now. Hermione's one of my bestest friends, even though if she was here, she'd correct me and say that's not a word. I'm going crazy over her too… But, we should really just do what Draco told us to do, and get more experienced Auror's to come and help." Luna finished.

"Yeah, let's go, Harry." Blaise said.

"Okay…" Harry said, and they apparated back.

Meanwhile…

"Bloody hell… Hermione was kidnapped by Lucius Malfoy? I thought that he was in Azkaban!" Ron shouted.

"I told you before, that Hermione was attacked by him in the Quidditch field. But no, you were too busy snogging Pansy to listen. Hermione's been your friend for what, eight years, and this girl that you've just started liking and whom you've hated before is more important than her. Hermione could DIE!" Ginny burst out, with a sob.

"We need to go save her." Ron said.

"No, we need to get more professional help first. Harry, Blaise, Luna and Draco have gone-" Ginny began.

"MALFOY AND ZABINI WENT TO SAVE HER?" Ron shouted.

"YES THEY DID! AND NOW IF YOU'LL LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE, THIS IS IMPORTANT AND YOU NEED TO GET OVER YOUR STUPID GRUDGES AGAINST THEM OVER. STOP BEING SO DISCRIMINATIVE! THIS IS HERMIONE'S LIFE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, AND I WILL NOT HAVE HER DIE BECAUSE OF A STUPID GRUDGE AGAINST THE SLYTHERIN'S, IF YOU HAVEN'T REALIZED, YOU ARE DATING A SLYTHERIN AS WELL, AND IF YOU GO AND TRY TO SAVE HER, WHILE HAVING NO CLUE WHATSOEVER WHERE SHE IS, YOU MIGHT GET HURT AND WE DON'T WANT THAT HAPPENING DO WE, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE EVEN MORE TROUBLE. NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME I NEED TO GO TELL THE HEADMISTRESS THIS BUT I THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT A TERRIBLE SITUATION THIS IS AND THAT YOU'D HAVE A HEART FOR ONCE… I THOUGHT THAT YOU SHOULD BE ONE OF THE FIRST ONE'S TO KNOW, BUT LOOKS LIKE I WAS WRONG." Ginny shouted, storming off, with Ron looking a little scared and dazed after having suffered the famous female Weasley rant.

In Paris…

"Mother, is this the place?" Draco asked quickly.

"Oh my… the memories this place brings back…" Narcissa said, fainting.

"Mother! Mother! Oh no… I don't know how to heal her… I'm not a trained medic…" Draco said worried, after catching her.

"Protego totalum! Repello muggletum! Salvio hexia! Muffliato!" Draco murmured after he dragged his mother into the snug corner of an alley.

Then, Draco looked up to see a hotel, a very refined one at it. Of course, a Malfoy had to have the best.

Draco burst into it with no hesitation.

**A/N: Sorry guys, I know that you were expecting more… but I just had to finish it at that, because I really wanted to get another chapter up. R&R and F&F! :) Hope you all are wondering what's going to happen next, because I am too! :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Here's the new chapter, enjoy peeps of the world! :) I still can't get over the fact that people all over the world is reading this…**

**In the Hotel**

Hermione woke up, feeling very dizzy, and finding it hard to breathe. She found that she was tied to a chair and that her hands and feet were bound together. She could not feel her wand anywhere.

She tried screaming, but no sound came out of her mouth.

"I see that you are up, filthy mudblood. CRUCIO!" Someone said and Hermione shuddered in pain, turning her head to discover that it was Lucius Malfoy, sitting on a couch.

"Get away from me!" Hermione tried to say, but still, no sound came out.

"You will remain quiet. Draco will not be able to find you… but I'm hoping that Potter will, and then I will kill him. And Draco will learn not to be around such dirty people." Lucius Malfoy said wickedly.

"Your plan will never work!" Hermione tried again, even though she knew that it was to no avail.

"It will work, don't worry. Just for denying what I said, CRUCIO!" Lucius Malfoy said as if reading her mind.

Draco's POV

Draco burst into the hotel with no hesitation.

He was in a very dark and eerie and Draco shivered. He looked around, with his wand raised.

_Lumos_ he thought to himself, and his wand lit up. He looked around carefully, for any signs of where Hermione had gone.

Draco sniffed the air. A whiff of Hermione's perfume went one way. Draco quickly walked that way. Suddenly, his wand went dark.

"Lumos. Lumos." Draco repeated silently.

But his wand wasn't working. Draco cursed in his head, of all times for his wand to stop working, now?

Draco quickly put his wand away into his pocket, and continued into the path of Hermione's perfume smell, as it got stronger and stronger. Suddenly, he was up to a door. He was about to open it when he heard his father's voice.

"It will work, don't worry. Just for denying what I said, CRUCIO!" Lucius Malfoy's cold voice said.

There was sound of someone shuddering and moving around, and as there was no reply, it was not clear who he was talking to.

"Draco is not smart enough to find me. He's somewhat smart, but not smart enough. FILTHY MUDBLOOD! Why are you looking at me? What a disgrace! CRUCIO!" Lucius said.

Draco's eyes widened. He was talking to Hermione, who was most likely under the _Silencio_ charm.

What would he do? His wand wasn't working properly, and he didn't have any other way to attack his father… Could there be any muggle weapons around?

A gun. That was what they called that object that killed people, wasn't it? Draco had taken a few lessons, just in case. Where could Draco get one of those.

Draco hurried out of the hotel, searching for a gun. There was a muggle man with a black mask on. Why would someone be wearing a mask in the night?

Oh! He was holding a gun!

Draco did to the muggle man the only thing that he knew might work. After all, the man looked like he could beat him up.

Draco kicked him in the crotch.

The man doubled over, and shot Draco in the left arm. Draco cried out in pain, but Draco hurried anyways, and took the gun and cocked it with his right hand. He hurried into the hotel and followed the path to the room where his father, no he shouldn't even call him his father…. The man who had kidnapped Hermione and Hermione was in.

Draco opened the door slowly to see Hermione tied to a chair, with her wrists and feet tied together.

He pointed the gun at his father and immediately shot.

It made a loud banging sound and his father made a noise in pain.

Hermione moved her mouth and no sound came out. Draco quickly ran over to her and pulled the rope apart with his bare hands, and she collapsed into him.

"Draco… how… you… son… shame… muggle weapon… mudblood… arm…" Lucius Malfoy rasped, while coughing blood out of his mouth.

"First of all, now you've seen how intelligent even muggles can be. See, I hurt you badly with this muggle weapon. And second of all, even though she is MUGGLE-BORN, she is smarter than you, you see, she wore perfume today, and guess what? I could smell it, and come here. And lastly, I'm not stupid. I don't see why you're shamed of me, all my life I've been trying to live up to your expectations, even as crazy and stupid as they were, and you haven't shown me that you were proud. I thought that you were a better father, I'm shamed of you. I'm… disappointed. Goodbye father." Draco said with tears rolling down his cheeks and with a steady voice as he cocked his gun once more and shot his father again.

Hermione hugged him in comfort and then Auror's burst through the door with wands raised.

Harry rushed soon after and ran to hug Hermione. Ginny, Luna and Blaise followed suit and then hugged Draco as well.

The Auror's surrounded Lucius Malfoy, and confirmed that he was dead. Then, they ushered everyone to the lobby of the hotel.

Ginny quickly muttered the counter spell to Silencio, and Hermione could speak again.

"Lucius Malfoy… he… took me here, and he knocked me unconscious with… alcohol, I think. And then… I woke up… Lucius… Malfoy tortured me… and then… Draco came in with a gun… that's a muggle weapon… his arm was bleeding… and he killed his father." Hermione said in tears.

Harry rubbed her back to help her calm down.

"I'm so… glad you're safe." Draco said, tiredly, promptly fainting on the spot, with Hermione weakly catching him as she pulled him to the couch that Lucius Malfoy had been accompanying earlier.

"HERMIONE? WHERE'S HERMIONE? TAKE ME TO HERMIONE RIGHT NOW!" A voice roared, and everyone turned to see a familiar and annoying red-head… Ron Weasley.

"SHUT IT RON! They need to rest." Ginny said, standing up protectively in front of Draco and Hermione.

"All you need to know is that Hermione is okay, she just needs rest." Harry said, standing up as well.

"I NEED TO SEE HERMIONE!" Ron bellowed.

"The world doesn't revolve around you, you know. You won't always get what you want, and you won't always be able to want Hermione whenever you want. You can't just toss girls around like they're dolls. I would have thought that you would know by now, but Hermione is Draco's, and Draco is Hermione's. And I truly, honestly thought that you were serious about Pansy… I'm feeling bad for her right now. She's probably heart brokened. She thought you actually liked her, and now… you're off to Hermione again." Luna said speaking up quietly.

"Who cares what Loony Luna says? Anyway, did you NOT hear what I said earlier? I want to see Hermione!" Ron said.

"No. You're not going to see Hermione. As Harry said earlier, all you need to know is that Hermione is okay. And I'm going to ask you this one time. Did I JUST hear YOU call my girlfriend Loony?" Blaise said in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Stop talking to me, Zabini. Any-" Ron began.

"I don't care if you disrespect me, because that's your problem. But if you disrespect my girlfriend, that is your problem, but now you've just included me into this. I want you to repeat what you just said." Blaise said.

"I said, stop talking to me!" Ron said.

Blaise scoffed. "You know that I know that you know what I really meant earlier. Now repeat what you said earlier."

"Fine. Who cares what Loony Lu-" Ron began, but unfortunately he was interrupted by a punch from Blaise.

"Blaise stop! We don't want a fight! Just kick him out of here, and let's get Draco and Hermione to St. Mungo's." Luna said, breaking in.

"Harry, you want to help me KICK him out?" Blaise asked, smiling wickedly.

"Um…" Harry said. After all, Ron was his friend… Or was he?

"Don't worry, I'll do it myself." Blaise said smiling.

He dragged Ron towards the door and literally kicked him out of the hotel.

They quickly took Draco and Hermione to St. Mungo's, to get Hermione's treatment for being tortured, and for Draco's arm, and loss of blood.

**A/N: Hope you liked that chapter, and I know I ended that horribly, but I really just wanted to get that chapter done for you guys. :D Hope you enjoyed! So glad that they're okay, but Draco was shot in the ARM and Hermione was TORTURED! NOOO! Stay tuned (wow that sounds weird) for the next chapter! :) Any ideas for what should happen next? Did you guys like the Ron getting "kicked out" of the hotel part? I sure did. Did you like the gun part? :P Wasn't it awesome? Don't mind me… anyway, don't forget to review, follow and favourite! :P Love all of your support!**

**Potter on, people!**

**-Soccerisawesome19**

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**A/N: Sorry people, this is up a little later than I thought because at school we were using a soldering iron and I burned myself on my index finger… So it's kinda hard to type… :( Too bad… Anyways, here's the new chapter! :)**

**Safe and Sound**

Draco woke up in panic. Then, he remembered that Hermione was safe and sound. They were in St. Mungo's. Oh no… his mother!

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Malfoy you need to rest, get back in bed!" A nurse said.

"I'm sorry; I left my mother somewhere… I don't know if she's okay… How could I… Is she okay… bloody hell…" Draco said pacing around.

"Your mother is safe, don't worry. Look, see?" The nurse said pointing to the bed on the right side of him.

Draco looked, to see his mother safe and sound, sleeping peacefully.

"How?" Draco asked, bewildered.

"Your mother woke up, took the spells off of her, and she came to St. Mungo's and collapsed… she woke up earlier and told us what happened. She was in shock… and so we let her sleep at ease." The nurse explained.

"Where's Hermione?" Draco asked.

"On the other side of you." The nurse said, smiling.

Draco quickly turned his head to see Hermione, eyes closed, with her hands folded neatly on top of her.

Draco smiled at her. She was so beautiful.

"You really like her don't you, Draco." Narcissa's weak voice said.

Draco turned his head around to see his mother sitting up.

"Yes, mother. I like her a lot." Draco said softly.

"I'm okay with it… as long as you're happy." Narcissa said, smiling weakly.

"Thank you, mother. I'm so glad that you're okay." Draco said smiling at his mother.

"I'm glad that YOU are okay, Draco. After your father… turned evil, you were the only one that I could turn to. My whole family was all evil. Everyone, but you. You were my light that kept me from turning evil. Thank you, Draco." Narcissa said, rubbing her now old and tired eyes.

"Mother… I love you." Draco said softly.

"Draco… Draco…" Hermione's weak voice cried out.

Draco turned to see Hermione flailing around, with her eyes closed. She was dreaming. **(A/N: Am I supposed to say nightmaring? Is that a word? Idk… or should I have said, she was having a bad dream? UGH, that's the problem with English… :P LOL, JK)**

"It's okay, Hermione… it's just a dream…" Draco said reaching an arm out to lightly shaking her arm.

Hermione's eyes suddenly fluttered opened and she gasped, breathing hard as she pulled herself to sit.

"Hermione, it was just a dream, don't worry." Draco said, rubbing her arm.

"Ginny… Ginny… Must see Ginny…" Hermione said, in between gasps.

Draco didn't know what to do.

"Hey nurse? Is there a visitor named Ginny Weasley for Hermione Granger? We need her here, right now." Draco said.

"But it isn't visiting hours… However she's still here." The nurse said.

"We NEED her here. NOW. Please." Draco said, almost begging.

"Of course." The nurse said, eyes widening as she looked at Hermione, running out the door.

"This isn't her first time like this." Narcissa said, breaking Draco's worries.

"What? How do you know, mother?" Draco asked.

Narcissa pulled out her wand quickly, getting out of her bed. "Draco, get away from her, NOW."

Draco didn't hesitate to do what he was told. Narcissa certainly looked like she knew what she was doing. And… Draco trusted his mother.

"Hermione, dear? Look at me. Lumos." Narcissa said, shining the light into Hermione's eyes.

Hermione gasped again, and collapsed onto her bed, breathing hard.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" Draco asked, rushing to her, just as Ginny came in.

"What's wrong? The nurse said that you guys needed me… Oh no… it happened again?" Ginny asked. "How did you… who dealt with it?"

"I did." Narcissa said.

"Good job." Ginny replied. "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to… but how did… you know how to do this?"

"I… was a nurse before… Voldemort. I've seen this case once before, with a close friend of mine… and so I'm pretty good with it." Narcissa said.

"What's going on, what happened?" Draco asked to them.

"This hasn't happened recently… It's when you have a case of bad dreams, nightmares… and they haunt you all the time. I was hoping it would stop with Hermione, but seeing Lucius again must have caused it to occur again." Ginny said, moving to help Hermione sit up once again.

Draco soothingly rubbed his hand over Hermione's arm as she breathed hard and collapsed into his chest.

"Hermione, you've got to calm down. Remember what happened last time?" Ginny asked, worriedly.

Hermione took her face out of Draco's chest, and breathed deeply in and out.

"There you go…" Narcissa said smiling.

"I need a book. Now, Ginny. Please." Hermione said.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Now? Why?"

"It's because… this is the last process of her nightmare process. She needs something she loves to calm herself down. She needs it, if she doesn't get it, it's possible that… she might have a heart attack." Narcissa said grimly.

Ginny and Draco paled.

Ginny raced off to get a book. "I need that book that you're reading, Harry, NOW." Ginny said as she grabbed the book out of his hand quickly and rushed back to Hermione.

Ginny quickly handed the book to Hermione, panting as she came.

Hermione opened the book quickly and smiled as she saw the words on the paper. She began reading, as calm as she could be.

Five minutes past, of her reading and the others just staring at her.

"That's good enough now… I'm calm." Hermione said, putting the book away.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, 'Mione. I love you so much." Draco said, leaning in to kiss Hermione on the lips gently.

"I… love you too." Hermione said back.

Narcissa looked at them, smiling.

"Thank you, Ms. Malfoy for saving me." Hermione said, smiling.

"No problem. I'm thinking about… going back to what I usually did, and healing people in St. Mungo's." Narcissa said, smiling back.

"That's great, mother." Draco said, practically beaming.

Harry, Ron, Luna and Blaise all burst in, looking worried.

"Are you okay, Hermione? Draco?" Luna asked, worried.

"Why is the ferret beside you?" Ron asked, going back for his old nickname for Draco.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"We're all okay, don't worry." Hermione said, ignoring Ron's question.

"Nothing happened, I just wanted a book to read." Hermione said, before Draco could say something about what had happened.

Draco gave a questioning look at Hermione but decided to ask her about it later on.

"Oh, are these your friends?" Narcissa asked, smiling.

"Friends? What are y-" Ron began, before being cut off by Harry quickly.

"Yes, of course we're his friends. Draco's a great person." Harry said, smiling sweetly. **(A/N: OMG, for some reason I can't actually imagine Harry smiling like that… UGH *shudder*)**

"I know. Thank you for being his friends." Narcissa said to all of them. "Even after all that has happened… thank you for just being there for him."

Everyone was silent. They smiled, obviously touched at the way Narcissa looked at her son lovingly.

"Everyone… deserves a second chance. And… I think that even if we hadn't given Draco a second chance, he'd still somehow worm a way into everyone's hearts, proving what a wonderful person he is." Harry said gently.

"Our patients need rest… you've been here even after visiting hours, I think you should leave now." The nurse said, smiling at the sweet feeling in the room. **(A/N: Sorry, feeling sounds kind of weird… There's this word for it in Korean… 분이기****, but I don't know what it is in English…)**

"We'll leave." Blaise said, sighing.

"See you guys later, sleep well. Bye Ms. Malfoy." Luna said smiling.

"Bye guys. Goodbye Ms. Malfoy." Harry said politely.

And so, they left, with one more comment. "How DARE YOU CUT ME OFF? And I thought that we were friends!"

Draco and Hermione looking at each other, laughing with that sweet look in their eyes.

**A/N: So, here was the chapter, sorry for all of the A/N's in the middle of the story, but I can't help but do it… it's a bad habit… :( Anyway, I'll try to update soon! Reviews, follow and favourites sure do help my motivation though! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hm… there's too many hospital scenes… I'm gonna kick them out! :) Well, only technically… I'll just say they're all better, they can go, but they need to rest. Anyway, here's the chapter! :)**

**Out of the Hospital**

Hermione stretched her arms, yawning. And it was then that she remembered. She was finally going to get out of St. Mungo's today!

Hermione had been in the hospital with Draco and his mother for a week now. Draco's arm was now healed, but he and Hermione, as well as Narcissa were staying a little longer because of shock and trauma.

As tough as Hermione was, suffering so many Crucios could have scarred Hermione for life… But luckily, she had gotten treatment in time, and… she was tough. Even after her last time in Malfoy Manor… where she had gotten Cruciod repeatedly… she had still been okay.

"Oh, Ms. Granger, are you awake?" A nurse, whom she had found out, had the name of Mary, asked her.

"Yes, Mary. How are you today? Not too tired because of me, I hope?" Hermione asked politely, sitting up.

"I'm fine. You're no trouble. Are you excited that you're getting out of the hospital today?" Mary asked, smiling.

"Yes… I can't wait to go back to Hogwarts… Draco and I are Head Boy and Girl, the prefects need us to be there, and we've been gone for quite a while now." Hermione said.

"Oh yes… you are quite an outstanding person, Ms. Granger." Mary said.

"Please, call me Hermione." Hermione said, as she always said.

"Mmph… Hermione, you awake?" Draco asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah!" Hermione said, smiling.

Mary backed slowly away from the couple, smiling at them.

"We have so much to do when we get back to Hogwarts… Professor McGonagall said that everything had been postponed for now. So, we have to start doing the Quidditch tournament again, once we're back there… and we should do the dance as well." Hermione said.

"And… we missed out on so much work…" Draco said, moaning.

"Yeah…" Hermione said.

"Can we see them? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? They're getting out today, I'm so excited!" They heard Ginny's bubbly voice saying.

"Visiting Hours haven't started yet… but… seeing as this is the special occasion, I'll let you see them. But only for five minutes." Mary said.

"Yay! Let's go, Harry, Blaise, Luna!" Ginny said.

It appeared that Ron hadn't come along.

"Hey guys!" Hermione said brightly.

"Good to see you again!" Luna said, grinning at Hermione and Draco.

"Yup, definitely. Back in Hogwarts, everyone is talking about what happened… there are so many lame rumours… I'm afraid that you two will just have to put up with them though…" Ginny said, sighing.

"But, everyone else really misses you." Blaise said.

"That's good to hear." Hermione said, smiling.

"The food here sucks… I want to eat Hogwarts food…" Draco said groaning.

"Men and their food…" Hermione said, shaking her head with a grin on her face.

"It doesn't matter… in muggle world, and wizard world, hospital food tastes horrible." Harry said, laughing.

"Really? The food in hospitals for muggles taste bad too?" Draco asked, perking up.

"Yeah." Hermione said, smiling.

"At least I know that I'm not the only one suffering." Draco said, grinning.

"If Ron was here, he'd have asked, 'Muggles have hospitals?'" Ginny said, imitating Ron's voice.

They all laughed.

"You bet I would have. And I was just about to." Someone growled.

They all turned their heads to where the voice had come from, and found that it was Ron.

Hermione gasped, her face turning into a shade of chalk white.

"Oh dear." Narcissa said from beside them.

No one had realized that she had woken up, but everyone was still too shocked that Ron had appeared to turn to her.

"At one point of my life, I actually trusted that you were my friends. But I guess you're not. I came back for you, Hermione, and I thought that you'd come back to me too. I guess not. What is MALFOY that I'm not?" Ron asked, pleadingly.

Draco put an arm around Hermione's waist protectively.

"I don't know, Ron. What do YOU think that Draco is that you're not? Think back in the past, think of why I've been upset at you, and think if Draco has ever done something like that. He's never. That's what Draco is that you're not. No one's perfect, I know, but to me he's the closest thing there is to perfect. I really love him, please just try to move on, Pansy really loves you, you should… give her another chance, if she's willing to give YOU a chance." Hermione said.

"But Hermione… he's a MALFOY! He's a DEATH EATER!" Ron said.

"Take that back." Narcissa said coldly, pointing her wand at him. "I was holding back before, and I won't hurt you if you take that back. So take it back, now."

"Mother, it's oka-" Draco started, going over to her.

"No Draco, I can do this on my own. Take that back, NOW." Narcissa said.

"W-why should I?" Ron asked.

"Because if you don't, that means you're lying. And you don't want to be known as a liar, do you?" Narcissa asked. "Because my son may be a Malfoy, but he is NOT a Death Eater. Do you know what my husband did to him, to me, so that he would be a Death Eater? It wasn't of his own choi-"

"Mother, that's quite enough." Draco said.

"No it's not. I want everyone to treat you equally, because they have no RIGHT to treat you differently, they NEED to know the truth. As I was saying, it wasn't his own choice, my husband BLACKMAILED him, and I would die if he didn't do what he said. It's not his fault that he was born a Malfoy… I swear as much as I love him, sometimes I wished he was born in a different family, so he wouldn't go through the pain he went. And when he finally gained some respect, there's you." Narcissa said sharply.

Ron remained silent.

"Visitors, out!" The nurse called, and Ginny made the first move, dragging Ron out with her.

Harry, Luna and Blaise promptly followed.

Hermione put her face in her hands and sighed. Was this the life that she was doomed to forever? Arguing forever?

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, you are dismissed now. You are free to leave. But, your headmaster, Professor McGonagall has asked me to keep you here, until she arrives…" The nurse said.

"Which is now." Professor McGonagall's sharp voice said.

"Hello Professor." Hermione said.

"Are you okay, Hermione? And… Mr… Draco?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes. Just a little tired." Hermione said.

"Same." Draco said.

"And how do you do, Narcissa? It's good to see you again." Professor McGonagall said, smiling at Draco's mom.

"I'm fine. I've… missed you, Professor." Narcissa said, smiling back.

"And I you. Now Draco and Hermione have to go back to Hogwarts. They have a lot to catch up on." Professor McGonagall said.

"Yes of course." Narcissa said.

And so they left, leaving behind a sad Narcissa.

**A/N: Sorry, just wanted to cover some ground, and now I'm off to do homework! :)**

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**A/N: So, I'm going to combine some chapters together, because some of my chapters are really short… so if you can't review because of that, sorry! You can just PM me in that case. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Back at Hogwarts**

"Hi Hermione! Are you okay?" Parvati asked her, passing by her in the hallways.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you doing? Are… things good here at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked. "Ginny said that their was a few… bad rumours about Draco and I…"

"Er… about that… You should probably watch out for the Ravenclaw's…" Parvati said wincing.

"What happened?" Hermione asked worried.

"Er… you'll have to figure out yourself…" Parvati said, walking away.

"Why won't anyone tell us?" Hermione asked Draco.

"I don't know. It must be really bad." Draco said worriedly.

They walked through the hallways and people were whispering and staring at them.

And then a Ravenclaw walked up to them.

"Is it true that you're dating the Death Eater here?" She asked.

"Excuse me, what's your name exactly?" Hermione asked.

"Whitney Skeeter." She said snobbily.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll walk away right now. I'm guessing that you're related to Rita Skeeter?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, she's my aunt. I get asked that quite often." She said.

"Well guess what? I KNOW Rita Skeeter, personally." Hermione said. And dropping her voice to a whisper, "And guess what? She's an unregistered animagus. I've used that against her, and if you know what's good for you, you'll walk away right now, or your aunt will hate you."

"And what if she's dating me? I'm not a Death Eater. Not anymore, and people change, right?" Draco asked.

Whitney just looked at Draco and Hermione in disgust and walked away.

"How did you know about her aunt?" Draco asked curiously.

"It's… a long story. I'll tell you about it some other time." Hermione said.

"Anyways, how did they find out that we were dating?" Draco asked, pretending to stroke a beard.

"Draco! Do you WANT a beard?" Hermione asked, smiling a little.

"Not really. Why?" Draco asked.

"Well you're pretending you have one, so I was just wondering!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Sorry, bad habit." Draco said, whistling nonchalantly.

"Really? And why have I never seen you do that before?" Hermione asked.

"Um… I don't know… maybe… because… it's a new habit?" Draco asked, looking slightly nervous.

Hermione laughed. "You're gig is up, ferret."

"Who are you calling ferret, beaver?" Draco asked back.

"I'm calling YOU ferret." Hermione said, and with that, she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Well eugh back at you." Draco said, sticking his tongue out at her as well.

"Anyways, as you asked… I think they somehow found out… well we went on a triple date, right? And a lot of people saw us together, so yeah…" Hermione said.

"Good point." Draco said.

"It's not THAT bad of a rumour anyways… why was Parvati and Ginny making such a big deal about it?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know…" Draco said.

"Maybe… that wasn't the rumour that they were talking about?" Hermione asked, as someone else walked up to them.

"Is it true that you're a Death Eater now?" A different Ravenclaw asked Hermione.

"WHAT? Why would I be a Death Eater?" Hermione asked, shrieking.

"Didn't Lucius Malfoy and Draco Malfoy force you to become one or something?" He asked.

"Hm… you're in Ravenclaw, right? Think about it. Do you think Draco Malfoy, ME, and Lucius Malfoy, MY FATHER, changed Hermione Granger, whom Voldemort would never take as a Death Eater, no offence honey," Draco Malfoy began.

"None taken." Hermione replied.

"And Voldemort is dead. The concept 'Death Eater' is broken. Why does a dead man need Death Eater's anyway?" Draco asked.

"Never thought of it like that." The Ravenclaw said, looking intimidated. It was clear that he had not realized that Draco was there.

"Well you should." Draco said, and the Ravenclaw ran away.

"I have a feeling that that was the rumour they were talking about. Hufflepuff's are too nice to spread rumours, Slytherin's won't dare to get on your bad side, and so Ravenclaw's are the only ones left." Hermione concluded.

"Let's go to the library to finish up all our homework." Draco said.

"Sure." Hermione said, practically beaming at him.

Once a Hermione, always a Hermione.

"Ms. Granger, how are you feeling? Don't strain yourself too much. And same to you, Mr. Malfoy." Madam Pince said to them.

"I'm feeling fine, Madam Pince. I'll try not to strain myself." Hermione said, smiling at her.

"I'm good too; the people at St. Mungo's really know their stuff." Draco said, smirking.

"Glad to hear that you're both fine!" Madam Pince replied, smiling back.

"We'll be off to work then!" Hermione said, and they found Hermione's favourite spot and sat down.

"We actually have a lot of work to do. And even though the Quidditch-Unity was all put on hold, we need to start that again. And Christmas is coming soon, we need to do a house-unity ball or something for that." Hermione said.

"I thought that you were totally against that idea!" Draco said teasingly.

"Circumstances have changed." Hermione said, smiling at him.

Draco leaned into her and hugged her.

Madam Pince watched from the side. Usually, she would chase them out of the library for acting lovey-dovey, but today… she was just in a good mood. And besides, they had just come back.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Sneaked in some fanfiction writing time secretly… Hehehe! :) Thanks for all of the reviews, follow and favourites and continue to do so!**

**Potter on,**

**-Soccerisawesome19**

**PS. I said this in the beginning, but if you didn't see it, here it is. I'm adding some chapters together, because some of them are kind of short, so if you can't review on some chapters, sorry! L**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I wasn't going to write and update until later, but it's my birthday today! J April 19. I'm officially 14 years old! YAY! Anyways, that's why I'm posting another chapter for a special birthday treat for you all! :P Anyways, read on!**

**Christmas Dance**

It was finally Christmas. Hermione and Draco had worked together to make a Christmas unity dance. At first, people weren't used to the idea, but they had gradually became warmer to this idea.

And so, the dance was here. Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Pansy had all gotten ready, and looked beautiful.

They walked out of their dorm, Ron, Draco, Blaise and Harry waiting outside for them. And as the boys looked up, their jaws dropped.

"Holy shit, you look beautiful, Luna. I mean, you all look beautiful." Blaise said, not taking his eyes off Luna who blushed and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Thanks Blaise." Ginny and Hermione said in unison.

"Wow… Pansy…" Ron said, speechless for the first time in his life.

Ron had gone to Pansy and asked her to take him back, after he had realized his mistake. She was unwilling to at first, but as time went by, she finally gave him a second chance. Hermione and the other girls found out that Pansy wasn't bad to be around with, she had just acted all tough because she had learned to grow up that way.

"Ginny, you're looking beautiful today." Harry said, snapping out his trance and kissing Ginny on the forehead. **(A/N: Okay, in my fanfiction, Harry isn't shorter than Ginny, no offence to Daniel Radcliffe or Bonnie Wright XD)**

"Hermione Granger, you're the most beautiful woman in the world." Draco said after a while, and wrapped Hermione in a giant bear hug.

Hermione giggled into him and hugged him back.

"You ladies all ready to go?" Blaise asked, always the gentleman.

"Yes, sir." They all said, saluting.

"Then let's go!" Blaise said, and they were off.

10 minutes later…

"Hey, dance with me beautiful girl?" Draco asked Hermione.

"It'd be my pleasure to, handsome ferret." Hermione replied, smirking as she took his hand and went onto the dance floor.

"You're never going to let me forget that are you…" Draco said, shaking his head, facing his head away to hide his smile.

"Nope." Hermione said, smiling broadly at him.

"You know, you're so cute when you smile." Draco said, pulling Hermione in for a kiss.

It was pure bliss.

"Hey, can I steal her from you for a second?" Harry asked, interrupting them.

"Sure." Draco said, passing her to him.

"So, what was that?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows.

"What? Can't a girlfriend and boyfriend kiss?" Hermione asked, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"Of course they can. You really like him don't you..." Harry said.

"Yeah, I do like him. He's really nice and awesome and funny… and there are so many positive characteristics that describe him… and also… I kind of understand how he feels… like an outcast. I was a mudblood," Hermione began.

"Don't call yourself that." Harry interrupted, frowning.

"I'm a mudblood and proud of it. And that's why I kind of felt like he kind of does now. He was a death eater and people hated him because of that. He was… an outcast. I understand him, or at least I'm trying to." Hermione ended.

"I… see… You're my best friend, Hermione. I love you… like a sister. And I think that I can trust Draco enough… to pass you to him. I hope you're happy with him, Hermione." Harry said, smiling sadly.

"Why do you look so sad, Harry?" Hermione asked, worriedly.

"Well… it's because… I don't know, since you're such a sister to me… it's kind of hard to let you go. I mean to Ron, it would be different… since… he's Ron, my other best friend. Not to say that Draco isn't a good guy… I don't know… it's just kind of hard." Harry finished.

"Aw, Harry… that's so sweet." Hermione said, hugging him.

And so Hermione went, dancing with Ron, who apologized for being such an idiot, Blaise, who complimented her on her dancing skills, Theodore, who remained silent the whole time, Neville, who she found out was actually a good dancer even though he was very clumsy and Goyle, who she found out had changed a lot.

"Can I have a shot of Butterbeer here please?" Hermione asked the waiter who had just somehow appeared… Draco had handled the money related things, and Hermione had done the decorations.

"Of course!" The waiter said smiling at her kindly, giving her a bottle of Butterbeer.

"Hey beautiful." A voice said into her ear.

Hermione jumped up in fright to see that it was Draco.

"Oh merlin, Draco! You scared the life out of me!" Hermione said, slapping his shoulder.

Draco grinned. "Sorry, that wasn't my intention. Having a good time?" He asked.

"Yup. But… I'm really, really tired. I've danced too much than I would like to of danced." Hermione said sighing as she sat down on a chair.

"Trust me I know how you feel. I've danced a lot too… If you're too tired you should go and rest." Draco said, worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm not too tired." Hermione said, accidentally yawning.

"You really are tired…" Draco said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Well yeah maybe I am…" Hermione said.

"Give that here, and I'll take you to your dorm." Draco said, taking the Butterbeer from her hand.

"Okay thanks so much Draco." Hermione said, closing her eyes and letting Draco lead her.

Draco led her to the Gryffindor common room and asked Hermione what the password was.

"Didn't Harry tell you?" Hermione asked, opening one eye.

"Oh yeah… Caramel Chocolate." Draco said sheepishly.

Draco then hugged her goodnight and Hermione went to sleep as soon as her head hit the bed.

* * *

**Loving the Life**

Hermione and Draco were both very focused on their school work, as they had missed out a lot. It was very difficult, but seeing as they were both diligent students, they caught on fast with the help of their professors and fellow classmates.

Although the rumors had gone around, and many people had thought that Hermione had turned into a Death Eater, but after Hermione and Draco talked sense into them, they realized how stupid of a rumor it was.

It turned out that it was a third year in Slytherin who had spread the rumor. Now everyone at Hogwarts respected both Hermione and Draco, and everything at Hogwarts was peaceful, and back to normal. They were loving the life.

Hermione rubbed her eyes as she worked on her Potions homework… it was due tomorrow, and she had completely forgot about it. How completely irresponsible of her.

Hermione yawned, and stretched her hands out to feel the warmth of the fire of the Gryffindor Common Room.

And suddenly, two hands grabbed hold of her shoulders, and someone whispered, "BOO" in her ear.

She jumped up and twirled around in fright to see Draco, smirking and looking as cute as ever.

"Draco, you scared me! How did you get in?" Hermione asked.

"Orange bubbles!" Draco said cheerfully, saying the new password for the Gryffindor Common room. "Who makes up these passwords anyways?"

"Me…" Hermione said, blushing.

"I was just kidding, don't worry. They're cute." Draco said, smirking at her. "Aren't you tired? Why are you still up?" Draco asked, leaning over and hugging her shoulders.

"Potions homework…" Hermione said, yawning.

"Due tomorrow, I know. But I'm sure Professor Slughorn will let you off if you don't finish it. After all, he's your favourite student and you always get your work done. And also, since we were in the hospital for a while, he'll probably let it off." Draco said.

"Yeah, but I still want to finish it." Hermione said, stubbornly.

"You're too stubborn." Draco said, shaking his head. "You should really sleep. You really need it."

"But… this… I need to finish it…" Hermione said trailing off.

"No you don't. What you need to do is sleep." Draco said, soothingly.

"… Fine." Hermione said, pouting as she gathered her stuff away. "But what will Professor Slughorn think of me now? A pathetic student who can't manage to finish her work on time?"

"Nope. A fantastic student who makes mistakes, since she isn't perfect." Draco replied. "And if he does, then I'll blame myself for making you sleep. Okay?"

"Whatever you say, ferret head." Hermione said, yawning again, as she rubbed her eyes.

Draco ushered her quickly to her dorm, and Hermione plopped to the bed and promptly fell asleep.

Draco was about to walk out of the Gryffindor common room when a voice interrupted him.

"Wow, you're amazing. No one has ever been able to persuade Hermione from something. She's too damn stubborn for that. You're amazing."

Draco spun around to see a familiar red-head. Ron.

"Practice makes perfect." Draco said, smiling uneasily.

Even though Ron had apologized, Draco still couldn't get used to being easy around him. After all, they had been enemies for a long time. The War had really changed everything.

"It's amazing… everything has really changed. A lot. I'm not sure which is better though. The past, or the present. I mean, so many people died… people I'd known and loved. But, I met so many new and amazing people. I learned that Luna had changed, she wasn't 'Loony' anymore. I met your true you, Blaise, Pansy… life is amazing." Ron said, gazing off.

"Life really is amazing." Draco said, agreeing with Ron for once.

"Remember that time when Hermione slapped you? I'm sorry, but the expression on your face was priceless!" Ron said, chuckling to himself.

Draco laughed with him. "That was when I first started liking her a little, I think. I found out that she had this little… manly part inside of her. She could be aggressive when she wanted to. It was amazing, I never thought that a woman could be like that. I was impressed, but, I _tried_ to act all tough…" Draco said.

Ron laughed harder. "Yeah, I thought that she was just a bookworm at first too… boy was I wrong…"

"Well I better be off now, I need to sleep… it was good talking to you." Draco said, waving to him.

"Good night." Ron said.

Draco walked off, with a little relief, and a little pride. He had bonded with Ron. Who would have thought it?

**A/N: Okay, I'm sorry but I absolutely hate Ron. But I don't like to portray him TOO badly, so I'm making him good :P Be ready for the updates :)**

**Potter on,**

**-Soccerisawesome19**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Here's the new chapter! Hope you liked the bonding from last chapter :P**

**Apologizing, or at least trying to**

Draco's POV:

Draco had made a decision. After all of the terrible things he had done to everyone, he was going to go to everyone, and apologize. Maybe then, people who hadn't yet accepted him would accept him.

Draco had told Hermione about his decision a few days ago, and she was proud of his decision. Now, the first step… finding the people he needed to apologize to.

Draco made a list of all the people. Wow, there was a lot.

Second step… going to the people and apologizing. Aw well… it was… night. Pretty late at that. He'd save that for the next day.

Draco went to sleep.

In the morning…

Draco yawned as he stretched his arms out. And then he remembered. Today was the day. He was going to apologize to everybody that he had done a wrong deed to.

Draco was very nervous. He wasn't exactly used to apologizing. And then an idea sprouted. Draco could just speak to the whole Great Hall… it wouldn't be so nerve-wracking if he just said it once, would it?

Draco did a quick shower, put on his clothes, brushed his teeth and neatly brushed his hair.

"Why up so early, bro?" Blaise asked sleepily.

"Today's my apology day.' Draco said, and of course Blaise had no idea what he was talking about.

"What are you talking about, man?' Blaise asked confused.

"You'll see." Draco said, smirking at him.

"I'm going back to sleep." Blaise mumbled as he turned around and fell back to sleep, snoring.

Oh, how he felt bad for Luna. She would have to put up with his loud snoring… even after the seven… eight years with Blaise, he still couldn't get used to the loud snoring.

He had demanded to be put in a different dorm, just because of the snoring…

Draco laughed at the sudden memory.

Draco quickly walked out of the dungeons and towards the Great Hall, swallowing hard. He opened the doors, to discover almost no one there.

And surprise, surprise, there was Hermione, sitting at the Gryffindor table eating her breakfast.

"Hey Hermione, you're up already?" Draco asked.

"The real question is, YOU'RE up already?" Hermione said, laughing.

"Well yeah… I woke up early because I couldn't sleep at all… I was too nervous about the apologizing…" Draco said sheepishly.

"What's there to be nervous about? You just have to apologize, say it sincerely and they'll believe you. And that's it." Hermione said.

"I'm going to say it to the whole Great Hall, so everyone can hear. It'll be easier… not as nerve-wracking." Draco said.

"Really? Isn't it scarier actually saying it to the whole crowd?" Hermione asked.

"Not for me, actually. For some reason, I have this gift with talking to crowds… mother says that it's a leadership quality but I doubt it. Me, a leader? No way. Anyways, I'll just apologize, sincerely, and that's it. Like you said." Draco said, smirking.

"Oh well… you're brave. You're a man. I could never do that. I hate talking to crowds… I only do it when I have to. That reminds me, we should start the Quidditch thing back up again." Hermione said.

"How does that remind you?" Draco asked, curiously.

"Because talking to crowds is also when you're a Head Girl. And so, we need to take our Head Boy and Head Girl think responsibly and basically get back to work." Hermione said primly.

"Hermione logic…" Draco mumbled to himself.

"Sorry, what was that?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing!" Draco said innocently, as he looked away, whistling.

"That isn't nothing. Did you know that research shows that when people whistle, look away and say nothing, it means that it actually isn't nothing?" Hermione asked.

"No, I didn't know that. Well you were right… Really?" Draco asked, curiously as he turned to look at her.

"No actually. I just said that to make you admit that it wasn't nothing. But I bet it's true." Hermione said with a sly look in her eyes.

"You always use your brains to your advantage… I really need to learn to do that." Draco said, ruffling her hair.

"Hey! Anyways, if you're actually smart, then you will know how to do that. And you're a Slytherin, so of course you know how to do that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Wow, a lot of people are here already." Draco said, looking around.

"Well when you wake up, how much people are in the Great Hall?" Hermione asked.

"A lot… Almost everyone." Draco said.

"Well it's just you who is waking up late, not them waking up early." Hermione said.

"Well if I wake up too late, I can just go to the kitchens anyway." Draco said, smirking.

"Wait, you know how to go into the kitchen?" Hermione asked, eyes widening in disbelief.

"Yeah, mother told me about it." Draco said, grinning.

"I thought only a few of us knew…" Hermione said, looking a little disappointed.

"Well when I went there, I could see Dobby all the time, and that was awesome. I haven't seen him around lately though, is he on leave?" Draco asked, curiously.

"He… he died. When he apparated us out of Malfoy Manor… Bellatrix threw a knife, remember? It… hit him." Hermione said, looking away, tears in her eyes.

"No… she didn't. No way…" Draco said, clearly shocked.

He ran his fingers through his silky, platinum hair, trembling. He put his face in his hands, tears streaming down it.

"It's… m-my fault." Draco said shakily.

"No it wasn't, Draco. And what's happened is the past. And w-" Hermione began.

"NO! I could have stopped her! I could have pushed her away! I could have blocked it!" Draco said, interrupting her, screaming.

Everyone in the Great Hall turned to look at them.

"It's okay, Draco." Hermione said calmly. "It's all the past now. We learn from our mistakes, Draco. And next ti-"

"You DON'T understand!" Draco shouted, as he got up and ran from the Great Hall.

Hermione sighed, and got up, eyes following her as she walked after him.

"Draco!" Hermione shouted, looking for him.

Where was he?

And then it hit her. The Room of Requirements.

"I need a place to be alone… I need a place to be alone… I need a place to be alone…" Hermione thought, pacing back and forth three times.

And a door appeared.

As she opened it, she heard sobs. She looked around, seeing Draco, lying on the ground, crying.

_At times like these… you don't need anyone to talk to. You just… need a hug._

Hermione went up to Draco and wrapped her arms around him, tightly.

Draco stopped crying for a second, and then openly sobbed into her arms.

And Hermione was there for him, every minute of it.

After he was finished crying, he said he would apologize another day. Of course, Hermione understood. Another day… there was plenty of days left, and he wasn't yet ready.

Everyone needed a time to just cry sometimes. It helped.

* * *

**Getting on with It**

And so, Draco was ready to apologize.

"Hello everyone." Draco started off awkwardly, as everyone stared at him, some glaring, some smiling.

"Today, I just wanted to apologize to all of you. I know I've been a real twit. I've bullied some of you, teasing you because of your blood status. I've embarrassed you in front of everyone else… I know that I've done that to a lot of people. So… I'm really sorry about that. I used to think that I was the centre of the world, and I was the most important, seeing as I was a pureblood. But all of that changed. After some snappy comebacks, from someone…" Draco said, giving a glance at Hermione as they all laughed. "I learned that I didn't exactly like insulting people like that. But… I couldn't exactly stop. Whenever I tried to stop, someone would diss me for it, and I didn't like that. But… things have changed. My father, who pressured me and also tortured me, blackmailing me to do what he told me to is now in Azkaban. Some people have already started giving me second chances. Back then… I learned the wrong things. I grew up learning like that, so I thought that what I thought was right. But I learned that it wasn't, as I continued to come to Hogwarts. Hogwarts captivated me and taught me what was right, without even literally teaching me. And you all… the way you acted when I said something rude, would leave me feeling guilty… but I never knew what that feeling was, until now. But… now… some people have accepted me as what I am now. I've grown up. And… now, I have my own opinion on things. I don't only depend on my parent's thoughts. And although I can't take back what I've said before, I really hope that you will take my apology, and give me a second chance. So… um… although no one other than my mother has ever heard me play the violin, I'm going to play you a song that I wrote." Draco said, revealing a violin from behind his back.

He placed it on his chin, with the bow ready.

It was silent throughout the Great Hall, and suddenly, he began to play.

As his fingers moved into place, and the bow flew smoothly across the violin, the Great Hall was filled with a glorious sound of the violin, going high and low, with no squeaks. Everyone was amazed.

Although the Great Hall was quite big, the very peaceful sounds of the violin echoed throughout it, calming everyone.

Draco's firm but thin fingers pushed at the strings with all of his might, showing all of his emotions, all in one song.

Hermione covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face… so proud of Draco… of her boyfriend. He had finally managed to get that apology out and now… he was playing violin for everyone… and he was playing beautifully.

And then, suddenly… the piece was over, and the clapping began slowly, and grew into a loud roar.

Draco took the violin off of his chin and he stood there, while the whole Great Hall gave him a standing ovation.

Even the teachers were standing and clapping, a thin tear sliding down Professor McGonagall's cheek as she brushed it off quickly.

Draco just stood there, smiling softly at them all as Hermione ran towards him and hugged him, everyone cheering them on.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! OMG SUCH A CHEESY CHAPTER! But it was SO fun writing! :) I was originally going to have Draco play the alto sax, but… some of my friends said that he was more of a violin person, and I don't know, I really love the violin as well, so I just made him play it. Should I make him a good singer and alto saxer as well? Review, follow and favourite!**

**Potter on,**

**-Soccerisawesome19**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Here's the new chapter, dedicated to my sweet and awesome friend, bonniebonbon (probably mentioned a thousand times before), because it's her birthday today, May 19! :) Love ya sis! :) (Wow that's half literal)**

**Quidditch Back on Schedule**

It seemed that everyone had kind of accepted Draco. Hermione was so happy for him.

And now… they had to fill in their Head Boy and Head Girl duties, and continue on with their plans for house-unity.

The house-unity Quidditch tournament was back on schedule.

"Hi everyone! We are now attempting to put this house-unity Quidditch Tournament back on schedule! Hopefully, this time, no one will be crucio'd midair." Draco said, jokingly.

No one laughed. What had happened was pretty serious after all.

"Okay, so we never got to see Ms. Hermione Granger's full potential, unfortunately. And so, we will try this again." Draco said, getting the Snitch out.

"I'm ready." Hermione said, broom under her.

Draco released it. A minute later, Draco shouted, "NOW!", and Hermione was off towards the golden glint.

_I'm in a life and death situation, and the Golden Snitch is a… Portkey that takes me out of this hell. _Hermione thought once again, as she chased the Golden Snitch.

It was practically dancing in the air, turning and twisting, making it harder for her to catch it.

"It's the new style of Snitch. It makes it harder to catch, it turns and twists out of your grip." Draco explained to the group.

And Hermione reached, and her hand wrapped around it, as she imagined herself being Portkeyed to a safe place as she flew to the ground.

"Good job, Hermione!" Draco said, high-fiving her.

"That wasn't as bad as I expected it to be." Hermione said, smiling sheepishly.

"Okay, Chasers, I want you all to find groups of three, and I want you to throw it to each other, moving on broomsticks. I will find the best three, and they will be the main. There will be 4 substitutes just in case. The remaining 2 will try out for a different position." Draco explained, as they found groups of three, and got a Quaffle, tossing it to each other.

Some of them were pretty good, while others missed the Quaffle each time.

And so they moved on, and finally the positions were all confirmed.

Hermione was subbing for Draco, just in case, but she liked it better like that.

"Thanks to everyone, you all worked really hard today! We have an awesome team, even the subs are great players!" Draco said, smiling at everyone.

Hermione was wiped out, the practice had really exhausted her.

"Good work, 'Mione." Draco said, patting Hermione on the head.

* * *

**Meeting with Ginny**

Draco's POV:

"Hey Ginny, can I talk to you?" Draco asked.

"Sure no problem." Ginny said.

"Somewhere more private? Let's go to the Room of Requirements." Draco said, as he led Ginny away, looking around quickly to make sure that no one was watching.

When they finally got in, he started talking.

"I'm worried about Hermione. Can you please tell me about everything that has happened including these dreams?" Draco asked, concerned to Ginny.

"Okay, so I first found out about it the summer after the War. It's because the War was what triggered her nightmares. You know, getting the Mudblood scar, Bellatrix torturing her… That's what first happened. I didn't know how to deal with it earlier, and I tried hugging her, shaking her… none of it worked. Back then, she would calm down eventually… an hour or more after. It was horrible, so I asked my mom about it. She just knew how to handle it for some reason. I talked to Professor McGonagall about it, and she totally understood, and through those special circumstances, we were allowed to share a dorm together. She would still have nightmares occasionally, but we covered it up and the only people who knew were me, Hermione, Professor McGonagall and my mom. But the nightmares slowly disappeared, and she stopped having them. I think it was because she was happy. She was content with life, having you in her life, and everyone just getting along, other than Ron. But I think the incident with you father triggered something in her brain to get her to the last step, as your mother said, and now her life may be constantly in danger." Ginny finished, trying to keep calm composure.

"Wow… you must have been through a lot." Draco said, shocked.

"But Hermione's my friend, so it's worth it." Ginny explained.

"Thank you for telling me about it." Draco said softly.

"No problem. I know that Hermione would have told me to tell you, so that's why I did it. I trust you." Ginny said.

"Thanks." Draco said, smiling at her.

**A/N: Short, I know. But this dream thing is going to be really important later on. :)**

**Potter on,**

**-Soccerisawesome19**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hope you all enjoy! :) Thanks for all the reviews, follows and favourites! :) They're always welcome! Oh, and some of you were saying that Ginny wasn't a good friend for saying all those things without Hermione's permission, so this chapter's basically just to clear everything up.**

**She what?**

"SHE WHAT?"

That was how the day had continued.

Draco had told Hermione what had all happened.

"Ginny told me everything." Draco repeated firmly.

Hermione started laughing. "Sorry I just felt like shouting for some reason. Everything… as in everything? Like everything I've told her in my life? Or just one specific topic everything?"

"Hey don't scare me like that! I thought you were going to hate Ginny or something!" Draco complained, smirking. "You know… about the dreams?"

"The dreams… I get it… It's okay. Don't worry about it. You're already practically in on it anyways. You saw two of my reactions. It's getting a lot worse… I just hope it doesn't happen again." Hermione said, worriedly. "Anyways I would have told you myself, or told her to tell you."

"That's what Ginny told me. That's why she told me." Draco said, laughing inside about how the two thought alike.

"I don't want to have another… 'nightmare' again." Hermione said, making quotations marks with her fingers at the word nightmare.

"Well if it does, there's always Ginny there for you." Draco said, smiling.

"Yeah… she's the best friend I could ever ask for." Hermione said, smiling as she leaned into his side.

'So this is happiness' was what Draco was thinking.

* * *

**Another Dream**

_"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screeched as Hermione screamed._

_Draco's silver eyes, staring at her in worry._

_Why aren't you doing anything? Why aren't you helping me Draco? Don't you love me? Why?_

_"What are you looking at, you piece of filth?" Bellatrix screamed_

_"Leave her alone, Aunt Bellatrix. She's not even worth screaming at." Draco said softly, putting on his best look of disgust._

_"That's right. But, I need to get information from her. CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screamed, as Hermione felt her body shiver in anticipation. And then it hit her. It was the worst kind of pain in the world. Of course, sadly, she was used to this now._

_Hermione felt blood trickle down her forehead._

_Narcissa quickly looked away._

_"TELL ME!" Bellatrix screamed, as she took out a dagger and stabbed it into Hermione._

Hermione woke up, hands trembling, gasping for air. She couldn't breathe properly. It felt like there was a heavy weight on her chest. It was worse than usual.

"Oh crap." Ginny said, fumbling for her wand. "Lumos!"

Hermione felt her burden lighten, and her breathing slowed.

"G-Ginny…" She said, voice, trembling.

"Shoot… where's the book? Where's the freaking book? Hermione where did you leave the book?" Ginny asked in alarm.

"I… l-left it in t-the C-common r-room." Hermione said, her lungs not extracting enough oxygen from the air.

"Crap." Ginny leaped out of her bed, and ran out of the dorm to the Common Room.

Hermione felt sweat trickling down her forehead, just like the blood had. She felt as if the air was crushing her. She couldn't breathe. When would this madness be over?

"Hermione!" Draco said, as he ran into the room. Ginny had left the door open.

Hermione immediately felt her body relaxing, and she could breathe again.

"Hermione the book!" Ginny said as she ran in, throwing the book to her.

It hit Hermione on the head, and fell onto the bed.

"OW!" Hermione said, rubbing her forehead.

"Bloody hell Draco, what are you doing here?" Ginny said, surprised.

"Had a bad feeling that Hermione was in danger. Like last time. What's going on? We need to find a cure for this." Draco said, worriedly.

"Wait… Hermione? How are you so calm already?" Ginny asked. "And sorry about the book."

"I don't know why I'm so calm. I think…. I don't know, seeing Draco calmed me down." Hermione said.

"That's what your mom said, Draco. Seeing something you love makes you calm down!" Ginny said excitedly.

Hermione felt a slow feeling of dread.

If she had seen Ginny before, why did she not calm down? Was it because… she didn't love her? As a friend? Well, love was a very complicated thing. But if Ginny found out that she loved Draco… and not Ginny… how would she react?

"That's a relief." Draco said, with the same look in his eyes that Hermione had.

They looked at each other, and spoke through their eyes.

_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?_

_Yeah._

_Let's talk later._

_Okay._

"Is everything okay?" Ginny asked, looking back and forth from Draco and Hermione.

"Yup, everything's fine!" Hermione said, smiling.

"Okay, let's do the engorgio thing again." Ginny said, as she muttered something under her breath, pointing her wand at the bed. The bed grew from underneath her.

"Okay. And let's research more about what's going on. I tried, but I couldn't find anything. I think that it's a rare case." Hermione said.

"Well we should. Now I should leave you ladies to do your stuff. Goodnight!" Draco said, walking away, worriedly.

There was researching to be done.

**A/N: Hope you liked!**

**Potter on,**

**-Soccerisawesome19**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Sorry people, I understand that Second Chance has been really boring lately… I should probably just give up on it or something.**

**Researching in the library**

They were busy at work, trying to find a cure. Narcissa didn't know a cure for it. Her friend had been killed by Voldemort before they could.

And so they were in the library. Where Hermione loved.

"Okay, so Draco, you look into the restricted section for anything with Luna, and Ginny and I are going to the regular section." Hermione whispered.

"Wait how?" Draco asked.

Hermione smiled. "McGonagall knows about my… condition. She wrote us a note. I gave it to Madam Pince earlier."

"Wow that woman is awesome." Draco said, smirking.

"She is." Luna said dreamily.

"Now let's get to work." Ginny said and they all spread.

Hermione quickly scanned the spines of books for anything that would catch her eye.

And there it was. _Nightmares and Trauma _by Jay King. Hermione scanned through it quickly.

Nothing caught her eyes until she saw the words 'terrible memories, being repeated in various ways- through nightmares.'

"Ginny, Draco, Luna!" Hermione called excitedly as she put the heavy book onto the table. After all the heavy textbook carrying, this was nothing.

"It says here, _There is a certain form of trauma that is shown- through nightmares. Terrible memories, being repeated in various ways- through nightmares._" Hermione said excitedly, waving her hands rapidly.

"That sounds exactly like it!" Ginny said, grinning.

"_This is a very rare case, but when shown, it means that the victim is a person who has always carried a heavy burden, and has always been the center of attacks- physical, verbal, or spiritual. It means that this victim, has received his/her final blow. In other words, the victim will most likely die, in a matter of hours, days or years." _Hermione continued, her mouth turning into a terrible O.

"Oh no." Luna said, as her eyes widened in horror.

"Nononononononono!"

"… Most likely, right? That means you might not die." Ginny said.

"But I still could…" Hermione said as she slowly crumpled to the ground.

Draco, finally out of his shock, went to comfort her.

"This might not necessarily be your case, 'Mione." Draco said softly.

"No, it is. I know for sure. All of the symptoms are true. I've always carried a heavy burden, I've always been the center of attacks, and… I have trauma… through nightmares." Hermione said.

"There might be more about it… maybe a cure…? Someone has to know about it. Hermione read on!" Luna said.

In a shaky voice, Hermione continued. "_No cure has been found for this. However, to warn the victim of this form of trauma, there are several symptoms. The first stage of this is just nightmares. The victim has nightmares about terrible memories, and they are slowly tortured by it. It slowly begins to destroy their soul. Once they are woken up, they can come back to their wits, and live on."_

"And it's true. That was my first stage."

"That's true Hermione, but it might not necessarily-" Ginny began.

Hermione continued. "_The second stage of this is also nightmares, but they can not easily come back to this world. A bright light must be shined into their eyes for them to get out of the dreaming world. This is because the part of the dreaming world that the person is in is called the nightmare world. In nightmares, all is darkness. And so, the light helps pull them out, and lead them back to their world."_

"All symptoms so far, correct."

"Hermione it doesn't mean you're going to die!" Draco said desperately.

"But it might. And that's what's important."

_"The third stage is also one of the final ones. It means that the person's soul is halfway destroyed. When this happens, it usually means that they had something to remind them of what had happened earlier- the cause of the trauma. When the person is woken up, through a bright light, they must grasp for something they love, because that is what keeps their soul alive, and healthy. If they do not get this in 5 minutes, they will most likely die."_

All was silent. No one had any more comments. They all knew that Hermione really had this nightmare trauma.

"_This nightmare trauma is called 'deathmare'. Reasons being obvious. No person who has been the victim of deathmare, has survived up to record."_ Hermione concluded.

Ron and Harry came in laughing and talking. They looked up, and stopped abruptly, seeing the four's face.

"W-what's the matter you guys? Why the sad faces?" Ron asked.

Luna, Ginny and Draco looked at Hermione for permission. Hermione didn't look up.

"I'm going to die."

"W-what are you talking about?" Harry asked, with a fake smile on his face. "You're kidding, right?"

"Not one single person, has survived from it…" Draco said, with a chilling expression on his face.

"But that's only up to record!" Ginny said with a false cheeriness.

"I'm going to die." Hermione repeated.

Hermione was going to die.

**A/N: Hope you liked. Review, follow and favourite!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Because I didn't update for a while until yesterday, here's another chapter! Anyways… I haven't done any Disclaimer's in a while… so…**

**Disclaimer: Yes. I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own anything you recognize at least. Don't rub it in.**

**Just keep in mind. I DO own this story.**

**Meeting Professor McGonagall**

"Deathmare, Professor McGonagall! That's what my nightmare trauma is called. I'm going to die, Professor!" Hermione said, tears streaming down her face.

She was alone, and everyone else was discussing it in the Room of Requirements.

"Calm down, Ms. Granger. Tell me everything you know." Professor McGonagall said with a stern and steady voice, as she pushed her glasses up her nose.

"It was… in the library… A book called… _Nightmares and Trauma… _by someone… named Jay King… said I was… going to die." Hermione said in between sobs.

"Tell me what it said, Ms. Granger. Please, calm yourself so I can understand you clearly." Professor McGonagall said.

For some reason, her voice was of comfort to Hermione. Hermione breathed in and breathed out. Her tears stopped, and she could finally speak clearly again.

"_There is a certain form of trauma that is shown- through nightmares. Terrible memories, being repeated in various ways- through nightmares. This is a very rare case, but when shown, it means that the victim is a person who has always carried a heavy burden, and has always been the center of attacks- physical, verbal, or spiritual. It means that this victim, has received his/her final blow. In other words, the victim will most likely die, in a matter of hours, days or years. No cure has been found for this. However, to warn the victim of this form of trauma, there are several symptoms. The first stage of this is just nightmares. The victim has nightmares about terrible memories, and they are slowly tortured by it. It slowly begins to destroy their soul. Once they are woken up, they can come back to their wits, and live on. The second stage of this is also nightmares, but they can not easily come back to this world. A bright light must be shined into their eyes for them to get out of the dreaming world. This is because the part of the dreaming world that the person is in is called the nightmare world. In nightmares, all is darkness. And so, the light helps pull them out, and lead them back to their world. The third stage is also one of the final ones. It means that the person's soul is halfway destroyed. When this happens, it usually means that they had something to remind them of what had happened earlier- the cause of the trauma. When the person is woken up, through a bright light, they must grasp for something they love, because that is what keeps their soul alive, and healthy. If they do not get this in 5 minutes, they will most likely die. This nightmare trauma is called 'deathmare'. Reasons being obvious. No person who has been the victim of deathmare, has survived up to record._" Hermione recited with creepy accuracy.

"Have a biscuit, Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagall said calmly.

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Hermione said, wondering why her favourite professor would say something like this.

"No really, have a biscuit, while I contact this 'Jay King'." Professor McGonagall said.

"That's right! Jay King must know more about this!" Hermione said excitedly.

"He might, but we can not get our hopes up, Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagall said.

"Yes, I understand, Professor." Hermione said.

"And do have a biscuit." Professor McGonagall said curtly.

Meanwhile…

"What should we do…?" Harry asked.

"Well I'm going to contact my mother. My mother knows about 'deathmare', since her friend had it. I'm guessing… that her friend died." Draco said, depressed.

"We should also contact 'Jay King'. He's the one who wrote it, so he should know a lot about it." Ginny spoke up.

"That's true. We have to get as much as information as we can." Ron said.

"And if we can't find anything to help Hermione… we might as well just spend as much as time as we can with her." Luna said softly.

Everyone was silent. They were still very shocked that their friend was probably going to die.

"I'm going to Hermione to tell her about what we're going to do. And to comfort her. You guys strategize some more, okay?" Draco asked.

They all nodded, knowing that Draco and Hermione should have some time together. Alone.

Draco sighed, and he left the Room of Requirements. He sped away, to where Professor McGonagall was. Where Professor McGonagall was, Hermione was.

And finally, he arrived, and knocked.

"I'm busy, please don't bother me right now." Professor McGonagall said.

"It's Draco. I know Hermione is in there with you, I need to tell her something." Draco said.

"In that case, come in, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall said as she opened the door for him.

He saw Hermione, red eyed, sitting on a chair as she chewed on a biscuit.

"We're going to ask Jay Park about 'deathmare'." Draco said.

"Professor is already doing that." Hermione said.

"Expecto Patronum." Draco said, as he sent a message to the others, telling them that Professor McGonagall was already doing so.

His Patronus… was… not a ferret. It was a… bear…?

"A bear…?" Hermione asked.

"It's… because the urge to protect the people I love… is like a mother bear trying to protect its cub." Draco said, blushing.

"Aw… that's kind of cute, Draco." Hermione said, smirking.

"Anyways, I'm going to contact my mother… to find out more about… deathmare. Her friend had it, right? That's why… she knew how to deal with your situation." Draco said, as he sat down beside her.

"I remember. That's a good idea." Hermione said, smiling at him.

"It's good to see you smile again." Draco said, sighing inwardly in relief.

"It's good to feel myself smile as well." Hermione said.

Draco smiled, as he reached for Hermione's hand.

And so they sat together like that, holding hands.

* * *

Hermione paced inside Professor McGonagall's office. Professor McGonagall had said that she had contacted Jay King. She had also said to gather everyone and meet her at her office. Hermione had then quickly sent Patronuses to everyone, and she was now waiting for them to arrive.

Professor McGonagall had said that she would tell her everything when everyone came.

The first to arrive was of course, Draco.

"What happened? Did he say anything? Did you learn anything new? How-"

"I'm right now waiting for everyone. And Professor McGonagall said to wait until everyone came." Hermione said, a faint trace of hope in her voice.

And right after, arrived Ginny.

Before she could say anything, Hermione spoke. "Professor McGonagall said to wait until everyone came. So we don't know anything yet."

"Why is she making us wait?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"Well I would too, if I was her. Most likely, it's bad news. That's why she wants to break it to everyone at once, lessening the impact. Telling it over and over again is like someone punching you each time, as the news dawns in. It's probably for my sake. Also, if it's a long story she has to tell, then it'd be easier just telling everyone at once." Hermione explained patiently.

"What happened?" Harry's worried voice came.

"We don't know yet. We have to wait." Hermione said in a toneless voice. As time was passing, she was losing more hope.

"Hermione!" Luna said, as she ran over to her to give her a hug.

"We don't know anything yet." Hermione said with a muffled voice into Luna's shoulder, not bothering to hug her back.

"That's a shame." Blaise said sadly.

"Is everyone here yet?" Professor McGonagall asked, walking into the office.

"No, Ron isn't here yet." Pansy said.

"I am now." Ron said as he rushed in, breathing heavily.

"Sit down, children." Professor McGonagall said curtly, as she nodded towards the couches she had just summoned.

Everyone sat down.

Draco took Hermione's hand in his.

"Unfortunately, we have some bad news." Professor McGonagall pushed her glasses up her nose.

Hermione closed her eyes, waiting for the worst to come at her.

"I contacted him. But, he didn't exactly get the message. You see, he passed away a year ago." Professor McGonagall said.

It hit Hermione like a rushing train. She felt Draco's hand tightening around her, and she put her head on his shoulder for support.

Ron groaned.

"Draco, did you receive word from your mother yet?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yes. She asked if we were allowed to meet her, it's apparently a very long story." Draco said.

"Of course. That shall be arranged. Who will go with you, Ms. Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Well I'm going, obviously." Draco said.

"I want to be with her when she hears about it." Ginny said.

"Me too." Luna said.

"Same." Blaise said.

"Yeah, me too." Ron said.

"But we can't all go." Harry said.

"Well I need to go! I'm one of her best friends!" Ron said.

"I have every right to go! I was with her each time this happened." Ginny said, voice rising.

"Well, I should go!" Ron said, voice raising to the same level as his sister.

"No, I should!" Ginny shouted at him.

"ENOUGH!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

Everyone flinched.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley shall accompany you. Does that sound alright to you all?" Professor McGonagall said sharply.

Even if she asked, everyone knew that they had no choice for the answer.

"Yes." They said obediently.

"I shall write to your mother, and we shall arrange the date. For now, concentrate on your studies." Professor McGonagall said.

They all left her office.

"What was she thinking, telling us to concentrate on our studies at a time like this?" Ron asked bitterly.

"No, she's right. Even if I die, you guys should still focus on your studies. It's going to decide your future after all." Hermione said.

"I don't bloody want a future without you, Hermione!" Draco burst out.

"Amen." Ginny said.

"Well you have a little future with me. Be happy about that at least." Hermione said.

"I am. I am really grateful about that. But… I just want to live every day with you." Draco said.

"I do too." Hermione said quietly.

"We all do." Ginny said.

**A/N: Hope you liked. Don't worry, you must all know that Hermione will never die. She's the star of the show anyways.**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Yay, new chappie.**

**Meeting Narcissa Malfoy**

"Deathmare. It's a very frightening… condition to have. I will tell you all that I know." Narcissa Malfoy tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Hermione listened intently. Draco and Ginny were both at her side, and Hermione could feel strength flowing into her, just with them being there.

"It all started in Year Three. My friend, Melissa had been sexually abused a number of times by her father…" Narcissa shuddered. "Anyways, she started having nightmares about it. At first, I just thought that it was normal, because who wouldn't have nightmares about it? I thought it would pass, as at Hogwarts, her father had no way of reaching her here, unless an emergency came, or as a letter.

"But then, it progressed to the second stage. When I woke her up from her nightmares, she wasn't fully awoken. How should I explain this…? She was awake, but she wasn't conscious. I soon realized that when a bright light was shined into her eyes, in my case _lumos_, she would wake up.

"I was worried for her, but I looked and looked for a cure, but there was nothing. And when I thought it had come to the worst, it stopped for a while. We then, at the end of Year Three heard that her father had passed away. I was relieved, because now there would be no one to hurt her when she went back home.

"When she came back, for Year Three, I could tell that she had changed. Unfortunately, not for the better. She wouldn't tell me at first. Her mother had died when Melissa was 3. So she had no one to care for her anymore. So her uncle had gotten hold of her. And… he wasn't much better than her father."

"Oh no…" Hermione said, with a look of terror on her face.

"Oh yes. This was when the third stage kicked in. She loved only a few things. One of these few things was me. She had learned to trust me with her secret, and that's why she loved me. Like a sister. When she woke up, I obviously did _lumos_, but she was crazy, gasping and quivering all over. When she finally caught my eye, she calmed down.

"I didn't really understand, except for the fact that I was scared. I was scared for her life." Narcissa closed her eyes, reliving the moments as she shivered in fear.

"We researched some more, and finally found what we were looking for. Deathmare. She was terrified by this, and she lived until a few years ago." Narcissa finished.

"So… there really is no cure for it, is there?" Hermione asked.

"NEVER think that! The thing that kept Melissa alive for so long was her hope that there WAS a cure. You must always hope! Always believe. Always have faith. One day, I'm sure that a cure will be made, or discovered, and who knows, maybe you can resist deathmare!" Narcissa said, eyes wide.

"I hope…" Draco murmured.

"I want to apologize for doing nothing when… Bella… when Bellatrix did that to you. I'm sorry." Narcissa hung her head.

"It's not your fault. In your position, I most likely would have done the same." Hermione said, soothingly.

"No! I could have done something. If I had, then you wouldn't have been put into this position!" Narcissa said, voice trembling.

"Mother! Don't say that! That's the same with me. If I hadn't just stood there like a fool, this wouldn't have happened." Draco broke in.

"Stop it both of you! What's done is done, there is no help treading on the past!" Ginny said.

"You're right…" Narcissa said.

"I apologize." Draco said stiffly.

"We can only hope, at a time as desperate as this!" Hermione whispered. "We can only hope…"

"You're right. Hope is our last chance."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed!**


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